This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 10, 2022 - January 16, 2022

On Jan 3, Supermax Corp Bhd said it had introduced a new foreign worker management policy, which sees migrant workers employed by the company in Malaysia enjoying pay and benefits similar to those of their local counterparts.

The glove maker said in a statement both local and migrant workers, including workers of on-site vendors, are now on an equal footing when it came to pay and benefits, which would further eliminate any discriminatory practices.

Along with the implementation of this new policy, Supermax pointed out that it had also raised the minimum wage of its workers to RM1,400 across all categories.

Pressure has been mounting on the company to take swift action to strengthen its human resource and migrant worker policies and practices after it emerged as one of the Malaysian glove makers and plantation companies being banned from selling their products in the US over allegations of forced labour. Hence, its latest action bodes well for Supermax, and gives other companies reason to follow its exemplary move as it also strives to meet the International Labour Organization standards.

However, this raises other questions. With companies willing to pay more for migrant workers and locals reluctant to take on what is perceived as low-wage, manual jobs, will it be more difficult to reduce industries’ reliance on foreign labour?

As for locals, will higher pay alone keep them in these jobs? What else could be done to get them to stay on in these jobs — some of which are now better-paying ones?

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