Top Glove says US CBP detention order based on 'old allegations'
The US Customs and Border Protection's detention order against Top Glove was largely based on old allegations which had been addressed by the company, its managing director Lee Kim Meow said today.
Speaking to reporters after an industry stakeholder meeting with Human Resource Minister M Saravanan in Putrajaya, Lee (photo, above) maintained there has been good progress in its discussions with the CBP to have the order lifted soon.
The US Customs and Border Protection's detention order against Top Glove was largely based on old allegations which had been addressed by the company, its managing director Lee Kim Meow said today.
Speaking to reporters after an industry stakeholder meeting with Human Resource Minister M Saravanan in Putrajaya, Lee (photo, above) maintained there has been good progress in its discussions with the CBP to have the order lifted soon.
"We have managed to reach out to the CPB and explain to them that some of the areas (allegations) about the detention of passports, about the excessive overtime hours, rest days, all of these are actually an old story.
"Since then a lot of efforts have been put into addressing the issues," he said, adding that an outstanding issue that remained was the retrospective payment of recruitment fees paid by its workers to agents before January 2019.
The US Customs Border and Protection last week enforced a detention order on subsidiaries of Top Glove and Australia's ABC News yesterday quoted a CBP spokesperson as saying that the decision was "based on reasonable evidence of forced labour in the manufacturing process".
"The evidence reveals multiple International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour, including debt bondage, excessive overtime, retention of identification documents, and abusive working and living conditions," the spokesperson reportedly said.
Top Glove previously confirmed the detention order and said it aimed to resolve the matter within two weeks by reaching out to the CBP, its customers and consultants.
Throughout last year, Lee maintained that Top Glove had passed various external audits of its operations, including visits to its hostels for foreign workers.
"I am glad they gave us a good seal of approval.
"Of course there is room for improvement as you look at any organisation as it evolves," he said.
Lee further accused an "activist and an NGO" of focusing on the company's worst angle, particularly at the beginning of the movement control order in March, when every company faced a similar struggle to cope with new operational norms.
He added that critics, as well as representatives from various foreign embassies with citizens working at Top Glove, are welcomed to visit its factories and personally verify the working conditions.
Lee said a representative from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur recently visited four of its factories and received no complaints from Indonesian workers interviewed.
Top Glove currently hires approximately 5,000 locals and 12,000 foreigners but Lee said efforts are underway to increase the ratio of Malaysians employed in its factories, in light of the government's freeze on the hiring of migrant workers.
Saravanan earlier told reporters that industry players present during the meeting have agreed to open up some 20,000 vacancies for local workers.
"To prove their commitment, they must advertise the positions on the Human Resource Ministry's job portal," said the minister.
Saravanan also dismissed as "baseless" the allegations of forced labour made against Top Glove, based on the outcome of an investigation by the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia.
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