Coronavirus Malaysia: Top Glove put profits before people, say migrant workers

Foreign labourers say cramped dormitories led to over 5,000 Covid-19 cases and one death in the company’s factories near Kuala Lumpur

Meanwhile, a whistle-blower who was fired for sharing photos about factory conditions said he was concerned distancing was not being enforced

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A Top Glove employee inspects newly-made gloves at one of the company’s factories in Shah Alam, Malaysia, before a coronavirus outbreak interrupted production. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:46am, 14 Dec 2020Updated: 11:59am, 14 Dec 2020

Bangladeshi migrant worker Sheikh Kibria recalls with horror the filthy, overcrowded dormitory where he was housed by the world’s biggest rubber glove manufacturer when a coronavirus outbreak erupted and infected thousands.

Malaysia’s Top Glove saw profits soar, and its stock price jump as much as 400 per cent this year as countries worldwide rushed to buy protective gear as the pandemic intensified.

But the South Asian migrants working flat out to make the gloves – who typically earn around US$300 a month – described appalling living conditions, in cramped dormitories where up to 25 people sleep in bunk beds in a single room.

Some claim the company did not do enough to protect them despite repeated warnings. On Monday, Top Glove confirmed that a 29-year-old worker from Nepal who had worked at its manufacturing facility in Klang for more than two years had died on Saturday due to Covid-19, the first death since the outbreak at its dormitories and factories in October.

The scandal has added to growing pressure on the firm, which is already under scrutiny after the United States banned the import of some of its gloves over allegations of forced labour earlier this year.

The infections also prompted factory closures and look set to have an impact on global supply.