Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (July 21): Amidst the news frenzy surrounding the labour practices of Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the glove maker said it was recently accorded an ‘A’ rating during a social audit by Amfori.

The rating was awarded in a social audit conducted on June 23 to 26, as a result of Top Glove receiving 12 “very good” scores and one “good” score for a total of 13 performance areas assessed during the audit, the company said in a statement today.

Amfori is a leading global business association for open and sustainable trade.

“The recent Amfori audit and earlier third-party audits which garnered good ratings, provide independent verification that there is no element of forced labour in our manufacturing facilities,” said William Yap, general manager of human resources at Top Glove.

Top Glove said it has continuously upheld good labour practices and complied with requirements of labour laws and best practices, while ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect the safety and well-being of its workforce.

It reiterated that it has implemented a zero cost recruitment policy under which Top Glove bears all recruitment-related fees for its foreign workers who arrived from the year 2019 onwards.

It has also implemented a foreign workers’ passport safekeeping policy since December 2018 under which workers have full custody of and are responsible for their own passports, it said.

“Since January 2019, Top Glove has attended to more than 100 external social audits of its factories, conducted by established international audit firms. In addition, Top Glove has proactively engaged with various organisations with a view to improving Top Glove’s social compliance and performance,” it added.

On July 16, Top Glove confirmed the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had placed a detention order on disposable gloves manufactured by two of the rubber glove manufacturer's subsidiaries, namely Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd.

“There is a possibility this may be related to foreign labour issues, which we have already resolved, save for one more issue with regard to retrospective payment of recruitment fees by our workers to agents prior to January 2019, without our knowledge. However, Top Glove has already been bearing all recruitment fees since January 2019 when our zero recruitment fee policy was implemented,” the company said then.

It said it was reaching out to the CBP through the glove producer's office in the US besides the company's customers and consultants, to understand the issue better and work towards a speedy resolution to the matter within an estimated two weeks.

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