KUALA LUMPUR – Top Glove Corp Bhd will reimburse an estimated US$40 million (RM160 million) to its foreign workforce for its questionable recruitment policy.
According to letters distributed to its employees, and cited by labour rights activist Andy Hall, the world’s largest glovemaker began the staggered reimbursement of the monies in August, and will continue its payment until July next year.
It has a 12,000-strong foreign workforce and reimbursements vary according to the worker’s nationality.
Workers from Nepal will receive US$1,500 (RM6,220), and those from Bangladesh will get US$4,800 (RM19,920), to cover fees they paid to recruitment agencies.
(For Immediate Release 5th Oct 2020) Statement on Top Glove's @topglovecorp Estimated US$40m Reimbursement of Migrant Worker Recruitment Related Fees and Costs - Attributable to Andy Hall, Independent Migrant Worker Rights Specialist https://t.co/ItmUUVNqlq @CBPTradeGov @CBP pic.twitter.com/2Qfb0TkFz4
— Andy Hall (@Atomicalandy) October 5, 2020
The company’s previous policy of hiring only foreign workers who pay recruitment fees has been branded as a modern form of slavery by the International Labour Organisation as workers are mired in debt before they even start working.
In July, the US Customs and Border Protection banned import on two units of Top Glove due to “reasonable evidence of forced labour in the manufacturing process”.
This was followed by an investigative report in the LA Times on September 22, which chronicled the suffering of Top Glove’s foreign workers, who alleged being subjected to 72 work weeks, unfair salary cuts, low wages, and having to live in crowded dormitories.
The US$40 million settlement is almost four times the initial US$12.8 million compensation Top Glove offered in August, which was subsequently labelled as “paltry” by rights activists.
Hall said the announcement was “an important staging post in the company’s journey to ensure due respect and decent work for its indispensable foreign workforce”.
Although the company instituted its zero cost recruitment programme in January 2019, Nepali workers have complained that recruiting agents in their country continued to demand fees, said a report in the LA Times.
Top Glove said Nepali workers hired after January 2019 will receive US$750 (RM3,112), a move that Hall described as “welcome admission that the programme has failed to eliminate recruitment fees”. – The Vibes, October 6, 2020
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