Top Glove begins to reimburse migrant worker recruitment fees

Top Glove has commenced reimbursing its migrant workers who joined the company prior to the implementation of its Zero Cost Recruitment Policy in January last year.

The world's largest medical rubber glove producer in a statement said it had today disbursed RM4.4 million to an undisclosed number of migrant workers.

This was previously reported as an outstanding issue which led the US Customs and Border Protection to issue two of Top Glove's subsidiaries with an import sanction.

"The total remediation fee to be paid is estimated at RM53 million, subject to finalisation with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

"At the same time, Top Glove continues to actively engage with the US CBP towards resolving the Withhold Release Order (WRO) expeditiously," said the company.

Top Glove presently operates 34 glove factories, from a total of 45 facilities worldwide, with a total workforce of 20,000.

In an immediate response, labour activist Andy Hall said there were still weaknesses in remediation policies and practices of major Malaysian glove companies.

"The payback period for remediating these fees is too long and needs to be made shorter to more rapidly take workers out of debt bondage and high risk of forced labour," said Hall.

The activist was openly accused by Top Glove's management of attempts to sabotage the company with his claims of alleged forced labour elements in its operations.

"Second, often remediation of workers still recruited at high cost following the implementation of zero cost/ethical recruitment policies in 2019 has yet to be considered as part of these calculations.

"Thirdly, remediation of former workers who have been repatriated and/or resigned from the companies in the past has not been considered or undertaken yet," Hall further said.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali (photo) backed Top Glove last week as the company addressed allegations of forced labour within its operations.

Khairuddin said Top Glove had given an assurance that all issues related to its workers have been resolved, including their welfare and outstanding repayment of recruitment fees.

The US CBP last month enforced a detention order on two of Top Glove Corp Bhd subsidiaries in a move intended to halt the import of goods from companies suspected of using forced labour.

Since then, Human Resource Minister M Saravanan dismissed the forced labour allegations against Top Glove as "baseless" although labour rights groups argued such elements could exist even through cramped housing for workers.

The US CBP previously confirmed that Top Glove Corp had submitted information to prove it did not use forced labour, although no timeline was given on an expected lifting of the sanction.

Earlier today, Hartalega Holdings Bhd - the second-largest medical glove manufacturer in the country by market value - similarly announced that it will reimburse recruitment fees previously paid by migrant workers to employment agents. - Mkini