TOP GLOVE SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON ALLEGATIONS MADE IN VIDEO BY CHANNEL 4 NEWS, UK

 

Shah Alam, Thursday, 18 June 2020 Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the world’s largest manufacturer of gloves has today asserted that allegations contained in a video produced by Channel 4 News, UK which was aired on 16 June 2020 are highly inaccurate.

Top Glove confirms it is compliant with local labour laws and in addition, has also implemented stringent labour practices, environmental, health and safety measures for its workers across all factories. 

“Every employee’s safety, health and wellbeing has always been of utmost importance to Top Glove, all the more during this COVID-19 era”, said Mr. William Yap, General Manager of Human Resources, Top Glove Corporation Bhd.

“We are committed to adhering to internationally recognised standards in our social compliance practices and since January 2019 have attended to more than 100 international external audits at Top Glove’s factories. The positive outcomes of audits such as those conducted by SMETA and the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) reflect excellent progress in our social compliance, where concentrated efforts were made to enhance our labour practices comprehensively to meet stringent international requirements. In December 2019, our factory in Malaysia received an ‘A’ rating by Amfori following an international-level social audit in accordance with the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) standards”, he continued.

Highlighting that many of the allegations contained in the video are historical and that significant improvements have been made, Top Glove wishes to clarify the following:

1.      Huge amount of salary deduction is inaccurate

·    In accordance with labour law, Malaysian labour authorities have allowed monthly deductions amounting to RM60 (which consists of RM10 for insurance under the Foreign Worker Hospitalisation and Surgical Insurance Scheme and RM50 for accommodation) to be made. However, Top Glove has its own medical clinics which provide free medical check-ups, consultation and medication for both workers and staff.

·     Top Glove pays its workers in accordance with Malaysian labour law on wages, which is a basic monthly salary of RM1,200 per month. However, the worker’s take-home pay is more than RM1,600 per month.

·      In addition, the company recently made an ex-gratia payment to its workers in appreciation of their contribution during the pandemic.

2.      Absolutely no excessive or forced overtime by workers

·     Workers do not perform excessive or forced OT and are given a rest day a week, in line with the Malaysia labour law, which stipulates a maximum of 104 hours OT per month and 1 rest day per week respectively. This has been verified by external audits and Malaysian government authorities.

·        Monitoring is being carried out using digital tools to ensure compliance

3.      Top Glove has Zero Tolerance for Unethical Intermediary Recruitment Agents and a Zero Cost Recruitment Policy in place

·     Since January 2019 Top Glove has implemented a Zero Cost Recruitment Policy under which Top Glove bears all recruitment-related fees for our foreign workers.

·    The policy also stipulates that Top Glove will conduct pre-departure orientations and interviews at the source country, post-arrival orientations in Malaysia, as well as monthly interviews with workers towards ensuring they have not paid any hidden fees to recruitment agents. Workers who have been made to pay recruitment fees to agents in their source country will be reimbursed.

·     Workers also sign a Letter of Undertaking committing that they must not pay recruitment fees during the recruitment process.

·   Top Glove only works with ethical and socially responsible recruitment agents, to which end it has implemented a robust due diligence procedure (encompassing checks on business background, practices and processes) to ensure potential agencies fully comply with SMETA or the BSCI code of conduct, as well as applicable local laws and regulations. Unethical agents are blacklisted and all business dealings with them are terminated immediately.

·        Significant progress continues to be made towards raising awareness and educating workers not to pay recruitment fees to third parties.

4.      Absolutely no passport confiscation. Workers have full custody of their passports.

·      In December 2018, Top Glove implemented a Foreign Workers’ Passport Safekeeping Policy under which workers have full custody of and are responsible for their own passports.

·     In the event the company requires the workers’ passports for purposes of work permit or passport renewal or in emergencies, the workers’ permission will be sought. The policy also includes awareness training for workers on how to keep their passports safely to avoid theft or misplacement.

·      The company also provides each worker with a personal locker with key in their respective hostel rooms, as well as a passport locker with key at the factory office.

5.      Proper cooking facilities provided in workers’ accommodation

·     All workers’ accommodation is fitted with cooking facilities. Cooking is allowed at all hostels, except for 1 hostel where a 24-hour canteen which offers 2 types of native cooking is operational for the convenience of its workers. In addition, this hostel provides various amenities including a barber shop, prayer halls, mini market, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), laundromat, money transmission operators and recreational areas.

6.      Social distancing is practised at Top Glove

·   Social distancing is practised at Top Glove in tandem with several preventive measures aimed at ensuring its stakeholders are safe and well-protected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

·     During this unprecedented global pandemic, lockdowns such as movement control and preventive measures such as social distancing are new to Top Glove and indeed, to everyone. The company has learnt fast and continues to review and improve the measures implemented, as well as increase enforcement and inspection towards ensuring full compliance with all requirements during various phases of the Malaysian Movement Control Order and closing any gaps identified.

·      Relevant authorities including the Ministry of International Trade & Investment (MITI), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Department of Labour have conducted visits and spot checks at Top Glove's factories and workers’ accommodation to confirm optimum compliance with standard operating procedures. Top Glove is pleased to advise that the authorities have been very satisfied with the SOPs put in place. (Please refer to the attached MOH report).

Details of Top Glove’s COVID-19 preventive measures may be found in the email attachment and the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAg3DgOEMqA

“At Top Glove, we believe in treating everyone with respect, embrace diversity and are committed towards upholding human rights. All 19,000 of our people embrace our Corporate Values, represented by the acronym R.I.V.E.R., which promotes Respect, Integrity, Value, Empowerment and Relationship. Top Glove has been founded on good and positive values, which we will continue to instil among our employees. We continuously identify ways to create a work environment in which everyone feels valued and appreciated”, Yap concluded.

Additional reference materials:

1)     For a true account of Top Glove COVID-19 Preventive Measures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAg3DgOEMqA

2)     For pictures & guidelines: Attached as PDF

3)     Ministry of Health (MOH) report: Attached as PDF

4)     On Top Glove’s commitment to upholding human rights and zero tolerance for labour rights abuses:

a.      Human Rights & Ethical Conduct at https://www.topglove.com/social-compliance/

b.      Sustainability Statement in Annual Report FY2019 (Pages 66 & 67) https://bit.ly/2URJEgc

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About Top Glove Corporation Bhd

Top Glove Corporation Bhd is listed on the Bursa Malaysia Stock Exchange Main Board and Singapore Exchange Mainboard. It is also one of the component stocks of the MSCI Global Standard Index, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index, FBM Top 100 Index, FBM Emas Index, FBM Hijrah Syariah Index, FBM Emas Syariah Index, FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for Emerging Markets. Top Glove is currently the world’s largest manufacturer of gloves with an established corporate culture and good business direction of producing consistently high quality, cost efficient gloves. Top Glove has over 2,000 customers worldwide and exports to more than 195 countries.

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