KUALA LUMPUR – Barely days after winning an award at The Edge Billion Ringgit Club (BRC), Top Glove Corp Bhd’s alleged mistreatment of its workers has been exposed in a video report today.
The eight-minute report by Vice Media presented interviews with several Top Glove workers who described the rubber glove manufacturing giant as negligent employers for not ensuring their safety during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also secretly recorded videos showing poor living conditions in the workers’ hostels, with many individuals seen living in squalid conditions.
The workers also expressed disappointment as the company failed to look out for their welfare despite reaping billions in profits.
“Since there are at least 28 to 29 workers in a single room, I am fearful of Covid-19 exposure,” said one of the interviewed workers.
According to the Vice report, the leaked videos shot in April on factory premises also showed workers not wearing masks and in violation of social-distancing rules.
One of the workers said while their temperatures are taken before entering the work premises, the 1m social-distancing rules are completely ignored.
Another worker said they were subject to costly wage deductions for minor infractions, such as coming to work late, and unpaid monies for overtime.
Top Glove has yet to issue a response to the video report.
Meanwhile, it won the BRC’s Highest Returns to Shareholders Over Three Years’ Award for companies’ worth more than RM40 billion on Tuesday.
Last week, the Labour Department opened 19 investigation papers into Top Glove for failing to comply with the Workers' Minimum Standard of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).
This comes after mass Covid-19 infections surfaced among its workers in Meru, Klang in recent weeks.
The department conducted simultaneous operations on the company’s worker accommodations in five states – Perak, Kedah, Kelantan, Negri Sembilan and Johor – on November 26.
Other violations include dense accommodation and hostels, poor ventilation and living conditions. Under Act 446, employers found guilty face a maximum fine of RM50,000 for each offence.
Top Glove has 47 factories, of which 41 are in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, on the BRC award, Top Glove said yesterday that The Vibes report on December 9 was “misleading”.
“We wish to inform you that The Edge Billion Ringgit Club (BRC) award has nothing to do with the Labour Department investigation, so the heading and the first paragraph is quite misleading.
“At the BRC, Top Glove won the award for the ‘Highest Returns to Shareholders Over Three Years’ Award for Super Big Cap Companies (companies with more than RM40 billion market capitalisation). The criteria for this award are: growth in share price, and dividends received over the past three years.
“Launched in 2010, The Edge Billion Ringgit Club and Corporate Awards recognises Malaysia’s biggest and best performing companies, the leadership team at the helm of these companies and the people who are the driving force,” the company said in its reply to The Vibes.
“Regarding the Labour Department investigation mentioned in the article, we wish to reiterate that we are working on improving our workers’ accommodations, an exercise we embarked on in July 2020, and that we are working very closely with the relevant authorities to resolve the issue of our workers’ housing.
“For your information, efforts to source for more worker accommodation and to improve existing accommodation have been ongoing in consideration of the large number of workers, for which the group (Top Glove Corp Bhd) has already invested RM70 million.
“In addition, the group has spent some RM20 million on purchasing 100 units of apartments over the past two months and is also renting more houses for its workers.
“In the mid-term, the group has earmarked approximately RM100 million to be invested in workers’ facilities and accommodation, which includes building mega hostels in Selangor (Klang and Banting) with a combined capacity of 7,300 pax and are fully equipped with a suite of amenities and facilities.
“The capex for the new mega hostels is around RM70 million and the hostels are expected to be ready by 2022. The group is also building and acquiring additional houses, apartments and hostels in other states where it has operations.” – The Vibes, December 11, 2020
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