[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: The Department of Labor has been told to fully focus on probing working and housing conditions at Top Glove factories to contain the outbreak of the nation’s most active Covid-19 cluster, the Human Resources minister said , Datuk Seri M Saravanan.
The National Security Council (NSC) deliberated on the importance of containing the group made up of foreign workers in the largest producer of rubber gloves in the world and decided that government departments must use “full force” to stop the spread, he told The Star.
“We are not simply sending a team to check the conditions at Top Glove. It will be the entire Department of Labor.
“We will complete everything in a week and we will put everything in black and white.
“This is a question of life and death of vulnerable workers, which must be contained right now, there are no two ways to do it,” Saravanan said.
Top Glove currently employs more than 21,000 workers nationwide.
It has 28 factories in Klang alone, the epicenter of the Teratai group.
On November 23, the NSC decided that Top Glove should close its factories in stages after Covid-19 was found to break the circle of workers.
The group first emerged on November 7 and now has 4,036 cases. Of the total, more than 80% are foreign workers.
Saravanan, who visited the plant days ago with Labor Department officials, said the workers’ living conditions were deplorable.
“Top Glove must follow NSC’s instructions and close its factories in stages.
“We have started investigations and we will not forgive anyone if they are found to have violated labor laws.
“I have visited the shelters and the conditions are terrible. My officers were ordered to go in full force as this is a large and vulnerable colony of migrant workers. If we don’t act, this group could spiral out of control.
“The Department of Labor will ensure that employers are held accountable for workers’ conditions and extreme measures will be taken in accordance with the law,” Saravanan said.
In the minister’s photos and video clips, the shelters appear overcrowded and unsanitary.
In July, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) imposed an import ban on two Top Glove affiliates over forced labor allegations.
In response, on October 24, Top Glove said it had resolved the issues highlighted by the US Department of Labor (DOL).
Top Glove stated that it was seeking a speedy reversal of the ban through remediation payments to its workers on their hiring fees on a monthly basis, starting in August and expected to end in July 2021.
The undersecretary general (trade) of the Ministry of Industry and International Trade, Datuk Seri Norazman Ayob, said that companies in Europe and the United States now emphasize issues such as sustainability, labor rights and the environment.
“Malaysian firms wishing to access such markets will have to prioritize managing these issues,” said Norazman, who was also Malaysia’s chief negotiator for the largest free trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association rectified by Asean last week. .
There was some concern among human rights groups that the current negative situation on labor rights could also degrade Malaysia’s global human rights ranking, as the country is currently on the Level 2 Watch List for the third year in a row. .
In June last year, The Star reported that the US State Department placed Malaysia on the Level 2 Watch List in its latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
The annual report said that the Malaysian government did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but was making significant efforts to do so.
Tier 2 countries are those that do not fully meet the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.
The level 2 watch list is similar to the level 2, but with three more criteria, including lack of evidence of increasing efforts, or when the number of victims is significant or increased.
The report said Malaysia’s efforts included convicting a few more traffickers, issuing a significant number of passes for the freedom of movement of victims from shelters, and establishing additional shelters for trafficked adult women, though not yet. he had served the victims.
In the 2017 TIP report, Malaysia was upgraded to Level 2 of the Level 2 Watch List, but reappeared on the Watch List last year.
Between 2006 and 2018, Malaysia was classified on the Level 2 Watch List nine times.
[ad_2]
