18 January 2021 / 12:01
Top Glove Corporation said the Canadian report had excluded remedial action taken by the company. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Top Glove Corporation has denied allegations in a Canadian television report which showed unsafe working and poor living conditions of employees at its factories. The company said the report was “thoroughly misleading”.
It said the allegations and the manner they were presented were thoroughly misleading and damaging to the company’s reputation for suggesting a breach in the implementation of existing policies.
It said the report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) had intentionally downplayed or excluded the most current remedial actions taken by Top Glove, which included the company’s commitment to combating forced labour and its current implementation of “robust policies” to protect the rights of its workers.
CBC’s Marketplace programme said last Friday that a camera had been smuggled into a factory with the help of a Top Glove employee. The footage supported the employee’s claims of unsafe working conditions and hot, cramped living conditions, CBC said.
Top Glove also said it was “extremely disappointed” that its remedial actions were not comprehensively published and fairly represented in the CBC’s main video.
The company said its factories in Meru, Klang, had been reopened with reinforced health and safety measures and an emphasis on education and adherence to Covid-19 protocols, after closures in November and December.
Top Glove reiterated it had zero tolerance for any form of violence, harassment, or abuse of workers and said it had relocated about 2,000 workers to a new hostel accommodation in Klang.