Glove firm’s ‘Covid-19 Heroes’ scheme 'underpays' workers who toil 7 days a week

CORONAVIRUS | Glove manufacturer Top Glove is “unethically” skirting labour laws by launching a scheme to get workers to work seven days a week on a “voluntary basis”, for a sum much lower than the standard wage, labour activists believe.

The “Heroes for Covid-19” scheme set up earlier this month encouraged workers to spend up to four hours on their off days packing rubber gloves.

This is to meet the surging demand from medical workers and other frontliners worldwide in the face of the pandemic.

For the low-paid factory workers, this means sacrificing their only off day of the week.

By right, employers must pay 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for off-day work. For Top Glove’s foreign factory workers, this would amount to RM11.54 per hour.

However, workers who participated in the “Heroes for Covid-19” scheme told Malaysiakini they were only paid RM32 for a four-hour day, or RM8 per hour.

“I don’t feel like a hero at all,” said one worker, who finally decided to drop out of the scheme after working 14-days straight because he was unhappy about the pay.

Moreover, workers said the hours clocked in during their off days are not recorded in their payslips, and they were told not to register their attendance as usual.

“It’s ridiculous and crazy putting out this programme where workers are made out to be heroes, but they are not paid their dues.

“It is deception and deception is one of the indicators of forced labour,” director of human rights group North South Initiative, Adrian Pereira said.

He added that leaving out information from the payslip is also an offence under the labour law.

Top Glove: Volunteer work is not off-day work

But Top Glove said the hours put in for this scheme is not considered off-day work. Therefore, the payment is just a “token” sum for the “volunteers”.

“This is an entirely voluntary programme which was initiated to garner additional assistance for packing gloves to facilitate glove donations to frontliners and other charitable organisations, in addition to meeting the surge in global demand,” it said in an email.

“The reward of RM8 which volunteers receive is a token of appreciation from the company for their efforts and not to be considered as payment.

“The RM8 reward is also clearly communicated prior to joining the volunteer programme,” it said.

Top Glove added that recent audits showed the company complied with working hours and rest day regulations.

The glove maker said on average, only 15 out of its 18,000 workers take part in the scheme daily, but conversations with workers suggest the figures might be higher.

In one factory, for example, one worker said at least 10 others worked on their off day for two weeks consecutively. Top Glove has 44 manufacturing facilities.

‘They think we’re uneducated and dumb’

Although Top Glove said the “token” sum was clearly communicated, some workers are upset to find it is far lower than what is stipulated on their contracts signed in their home countries.

Some said they raised it with their supervisors but were told to “keep quiet”.

“The company thinks of us foreign workers as uneducated and very dumb, so they do many wrongs by us,” said a worker, who spoke to Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity.

Independent labour rights activist Andy Hall said the treatment given to the workers is “utterly dehumanising”.

He said while the workers are indeed the "true heroes" in the fight against Covid-19, they are still owed a decent living wage.

“These heroes informed me they feel insulted at being offered by the largest glove company in the world… just RM8 per hour for working on their only weekly rest day."

Social distancing hard in workers dorms

Top Glove controls 26 percent of the global market for rubber gloves, which is part of the much sought after personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by frontliners across the world.

Most of the workers on Top Glove's factory floor are foreign.

Over the past weeks, the spike in cases in foreign worker dormitories in Singapore has raised concerns over conditions among migrant workers in Malaysia.

Top Glove assured that it is closely monitoring its workers and ensuring they have access to masks and hand sanitisers.

However, photographs of workers in the factory sighted by Malaysiakini show social distancing guidelines flouted.

Workers have also complained of the inability to maintain social distancing rules, including in their hostels where 24 men live in a dormitory with 12 bunk beds.

The condition worsened during the movement control order, they said, as workers are now allowed to cook to discourage them from leaving the premises.

“Where we cook is also where we sleep. It’s not possible to maintain social distancing in such a place where everyone is cooking, eating and sleeping in one big room,” a worker said.

Photographs taken inside the factory also showed workers not maintaining social distancing at work.

Workers, however, said they are provided with masks and hand sanitisers, and their temperatures are checked every day upon entering the factory.

Those with higher temperature are not allowed to work, sent to the clinic and told to stay home until they recover, the workers said.

Unable to recruit more foreign workers due to border closures, Top Glove has recruited local workers, offering a basic pay of RM1,400. This is merely RM200 more than what foreign workers are paid.

There have been no positive Covid-19 cases involving Top Glove workers, but the foreign workers say they are wary of the growing number of local new recruits.

“For us, we know we just go to work and return to the hostel. But local workers go out, go to the shops, and meet others.

"We are worried they might get infected and then infect us,” one worker said. - Mkini