COMMENT | Glove companies should repay worker recruitment fees or face sanctions

COMMENT | In November 2019, amidst growing awareness of systemic forced labour in rubber gloves factories across Malaysia, the president of the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) made a statement that its members would no longer keep their worker’s passports and would adopt a zero cost policy for future recruitment of foreign workers. However, Margma opposed the repayment of foreign workers past recruitment fees.

Malaysia produces more than 60 percent of the world's gloves. The recent CovidD-19 pandemic has created even more billionaires amongst its expanding glove company owners.

An estimated 30 thousand to 40 thousand workers from Bangladesh, India, Indonesian, Myanmar and Nepal make up the majority of the gloves industry’s workforce. These workers paid extortionate recruitment fees and related costs, up to US$5,000 (RM21,322) per worker, for their challenging and unrewarding jobs.

This money expended by impoverished foreign workers allegedly lined the pockets of corrupt officials in Malaysia and overseas, Malaysian and origin country recruitment agencies or intermediaries, and was also purportedly shared with the human resources department or management of glove companies.

Recruitment for work in Malaysian gloves companies has always depended on origin country recruitment agencies ability to pay the