KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Top Glove Corporation Bhd today said that the recent visit by authorities to its premise was not a raid but an inspection of its office and workers’ accommodation.
In a statement, the local rubber titan said that it was slapped with a RM1,000 compound however, from the Ministry of Health, for lack of social distancing in one unit of its workers’ lodging.
“The non-compliance was immediately rectified and workers reminded to adhere closely to Recovery Movement Control Order requirements,” it said.
“Top Glove was also awarded an ‘A’ rating following a June 2020 social audit of Factory 9 by Amfori, a leading global business association for open and sustainable trade, in addition to garnering good ratings in earlier third-party audits.”
The Human Resources Ministry yesterday clarified that there was no elements of forced labour with regards to the detention order enforced on glove manufacturing giant Top Glove Corp Bhd by the United State authorities.
In a statement, the ministry said this was determined through investigations conducted by a combined task force from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 and movement control order (MCO) in which the company was found to have breached standard operating procedures under the MCO, but that no violations of forced labour were found.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan had also met Top Glove and the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association to understand further why two Top Glove subsidiaries, Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd, were issued with the detention order was issued by the United States Customs and Border Protection, and subsequently placed on its Withhold Release Order list last Thursday.
The Human Resources Ministry also instructed all employers to implement Independent Social Compliance Audit (ISCA) to ensure compliance with the national standards.
The implementation of the ISCA was decided during the Joint Committee Meeting between the home minister and human resources minister last year who agreed on an implementation date of January 1, 2021.
Top Glove has since defended its stand and said the detention order was likely imposed due to reimbursement needed to be given to workers who previously paid recruitment agent fees to get a job at the glove manufacturing company.
