‘Rubber glove maker did nothing wrong’
Kulasegaran: No proof that firm overworked staff
PETALING JAYA: Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran has quashed allegations that Top Glove Corporation Berhad overworked its employees.
He said he and his enforcement officers had spoken to the workers at the factories on the matter.
“They (Top Glove) have a mechanism of taking care of the workers and based on my ministry’s knowledge, they work within the framework of the law,” he said, adding that the rubber glove producer had not done anything wrong.
He said according to the Employment (Limitation of Overtime Work) Regulations 1980, workers are entitled to no more than 104 hours of overtime per month.
“In other companies, some of the workers insist on working longer hours to earn more money to send back to their home countries.
“This is beyond the employer,” he said, adding that employers should abide by the regulations as well.
He was speaking to reporters after visiting Top Glove’s Factory 25 in Klang yesterday. Also present were Top Glove founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai and Klang MP Charles Santiago.
Kulasegaran’s statement came following claims in overseas news reports that foreign workers in Top Glove were subjected to forced labour and overtime and debt bondage.
The reports had stated that Top Glove and another glove manufacturer, WRP, supplied their products to Britain’s National Health Service.
It said Nepali and Bangladeshi workers in Top Glove blamed the factory for their “mental torture”.
Kulasegaran and his enforcement officers had visited 22 of the 35 Top Glove factories to check on the working conditions since Friday.
“I’m not sure how these allegations came about,” he said, adding that people should not be “spreading fake news” about the company.
Lim said as the country’s largest exporter of rubber gloves, it practised good business ethics, integrity, honesty and transparency.