RUBBER gloves are the latest made-in-Malaysia goods to make a US list of products of slave labour, Reuters reported today.

This is in addition to palm oil, electronics and apparel produced in the country which are already on the same list of goods purported to made by forced or child labour.

“There are reports that adults are forced to produce rubber gloves in Malaysia. Forced labour predominately occurs among migrant labourers from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Nepal working in more than 100 rubber glove factories throughout Malaysia,” the US Labour Department said in a September report.

The US regulator said an estimated 42,500 migrant workers were employed in the Malaysian rubber glove industry.

These were often in “debt bondage” after paying high fees to recruiters to secure the job, it said.

The workers were also forced to work beyond the hours allowed under Malaysian law, and in conditions where temperatures could reach dangerous levels, the department said.

The report also accuses the employers of withholding wages and holding on to the foreign workers’ travel documents.

Malaysian producer of 25% of the world’s supply of rubber gloves,  Top Glove was cleared of forced labour charges by Human Resources Ministry officials who inspected its premises in July after the US banned its products over the same allegations.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association president Supramaniam Shanmugam called the US report “retrospective”.

He said several major glove manufacturers since June had committed more than RM250 million to remediate recruitment fees their foreign workers paid to agents in their home countries that their Malaysian employers were unaware of.

“Margma members have reported that they are practising immediate repatriation if any foreign worker poses a debt-bondage risk or is dishonest in claiming no debt-bondage during their entrance interviews,” he said.

The services of the recruitment agent responsible for the worker’s situation would be terminated upon discovery, he said. – October 15, 2020.