THE world’s largest glove producer Top Glove Corp Bhd said it has been making “significant improvement” in redressing issues related to forced labour as highlighted by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

It said this was necessary in order to have the Withhold Release Order (WRO) imposed by the CBP on its exports lifted. 

The company’s executive director Lim Cheong Guan said in a webinar today the company has resolved six out of the 11 International Labour Organisation (ILO) forced labour indicators. 

The six issues were the abuse of vulnerability, restriction of movement, excessive overtime, abusive working and living conditions, isolation and withholding of wages. 

Lim added that the company was making progress with its corrective action plan to remediate the remaining five indicators.

These include retention of identity documents, deception, debt bondage, physical and sexual violence as well as intimidation.

“We have made significant improvement in re-mediating the indicators,” he said. 

“It is clear we have to have all the 11 indicators remediated to have the WRO modified,” he added. 

Meanwhile, the company’s managing director Lee Kim Meow said Top Glove has been engaging with many fruitful dialogues with the US authorities. 

“In fact after every engagement with the CBP, we have been working diligently on the items they have mentioned they would still like further rectification,” he said. 

“Along the process we have also learnt a lot of things. We have become a better organisation,” he added. 

Lee said there was also a high level leadership team in the company tracking progress of the process. 

The CBP said on March 29 that certain products by Top Glove had been manufactured with the use of forced or indentured labour. 

The regulator said in a notice that certain disposable gloves had been “produced or manufactured by the rubber glove maker with the use of forced labour, and are being, or are likely to be, imported into the US”. 

Citing Section 307 of the Tariff Act 1930, the CBP said goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labour or forced labour under penal sanctions shall not be entitled to entry at any of the ports of the US, and the importation thereof is hereby prohibited. 

The regulator said the port director may seize the goods for violation of the Act and commence forfeiture proceedings unless the importer could prove that no prohibited labour was used in the manufacturing process.

The findings of the CBP were reviewed and approved by the secretary of Homeland Security on March 23. – April 8, 2021.