US adds Malaysian rubber gloves onto list of goods produced with forced labour

PETALING JAYA: The US Department of Labor (DOL) has added Malaysian rubber gloves to its latest list of goods produced with forced labour, dealing the industry another blow after two key players were put on a separate list of banned imports by another US agency for the same reason.

The previous List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour report published in 2018 had the country’s electronics, garments and palm oil industries included in the child and forced labour category. All three industries were also included in this year’s edition of the list.

Released late last month, the 2020 edition claimed that forced labour in Malaysia’s rubber glove industry predominantly occurred among the estimated 42,500 migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Nepal, who were employed in over 100 rubber glove factories throughout the country.

“Workers are frequently subject to high recruitment fees to secure employment that often keeps them in debt bondage; forced to work overtime in excess of the time allowed by Malaysian law; and work in factories where temperatures can reach dangerous levels,” said the DOL in the report which accompanied the list.

“Additionally, labourers work under the threat of penalties, which include the withholding of wages, restricted movement and the withholding of their identification documents.”

Such transgressions satisfy the International Labour Organisation’s forced labour indicators.

The list contains no punitive actions and is meant to serve as a catalyst for strategic and focused coordination and collaboration to address the issues of forced labour and child labour.

There are a total of 155 goods from 77 countries in the latest list released on Sept 30.

In July, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforced a detention order on products of two subsidiaries of the world’s largest medical glove maker, Top Glove, after allegations they used forced labour.

The detention order prevents Top Glove’s imports from entering the US, and the glove maker has since embarked on a RM136 million remediation programme of past recruitment fees in order to reverse the CBP ruling.

Another leading Malaysian glove manufacturer, WRP Asia Pacific, was also put on the CBP list last September after charges that its gloves were produced with forced labour.

The ban was lifted in March based on information obtained by CBP showing that the company was no longer producing its rubber gloves under forced labour conditions.

Supplying 60% of the global market for rubber gloves, Malaysia’s rubber glove manufacturers have seen their stocks soar due to increased demand amid the current Covid-19 pandemic.

In September, the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association trade group revised its forecast for export revenue up by 36.7% to RM29.8 billion, and export volumes up by 9% to 240 billion pieces of gloves this year.