Almost 2,000 Nepali glove factory workers end 3-day strike

Nearly 2,000 Nepali workers at a glove manufacturing factory in Sepang have ended their three-day strike after the management promised to settle their outstanding salaries.

Sources told Malaysiakini that Labour Department officials were onsite at the WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd factory for an inspection earlier today, as well as to meet with the striking workers and the management.

"The Labour Department confirmed that the workers were not paid their wages for the last three months.

"They also found that the workers were living in terrible conditions," said the source, a labour activist in communication with a Nepali counterpart who forwarded the matter to authorities from the country.

The source was also informed that a labour attaché from the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was involved in the discussions with WRP management.

"I was informed that the case is settled.

"The company will pay all the wages within this week," said the source.

'Exploitative conditions'

Last December, The Guardian revealed that the British National Health Service was using medical gloves made in Malaysian factories where migrant workers are allegedly subjected to forced labour, forced overtime, debt bondage, withheld wages and passport confiscation.

The report stated that WRP and another major glove manufacturer was found to have allegedly subjected thousands of migrant workers from Nepal and Bangladesh to exploitative working conditions.

Three of 19 workers interviewed by The Guardian were from WRP. They related stories of excessive overtime, confiscation of passports and illegal withholding of pay.

According to the newspaper, a potential client who visited the WRP factory said he was shocked by what he had witnessed, and claimed the overall working conditions were some of "the worst he had ever seen."

Among others, it was claimed that factory temperatures were up to 70°C for those working near the ovens, and that more than 3,000 workers were housed in a hostel built for 1,800.

In a statement to The Guardian, WRP chief executive Lee Son Hong dismissed the allegations of forced labour as "baseless," and insisted that the company had never withheld or delayed payments for any employees.

When contacted, Sepang police chief Abdul Aziz Ali confirmed that the workers had been picketing outside the factory for the last three days.

"Yes, they held a strike. But the issue has been settled," he told Malaysiakini.

Abdul Aziz said, however, that no statements were recorded from the employer, as the incident involved no criminal elements.

"This is not a criminal case. It is (a dispute) between the workers and their employers.

"When their employer did not pay them for three months, they were angry and held a strike.

"Once the issue of salary was resolved, the strike ended," he added. - Mkini