LETTER | Commendable: Move to audit recruitment fee reimbursement of migrant workers

LETTER | The Penang division of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wishes to commend the Human Resources Ministry for its commitment to audit the recruitment fee reimbursement of migrant workers in Top Glove, as reported by the media yesterday.

While we appreciate Human Resources Minister M Saravanan's undertaking on this, we are also of the view that such an audit ought to encompass all other glove manufacturers, and by extension, all other employers who have been or who will continue to employ foreign workers.

The issue of bonded labour, be it exorbitant recruitment fees, excessive working hours, unacceptable housing conditions, etc, in all probability cuts across all sectors that employ foreign workers.

Thus, what ought to be the uniform audit portfolio is the adherence to, firstly, zero migrant workers recruitment fee in all sectors. Secondly, the Human Resources Ministry's audit should strive to compel, all economic sectors that have been employing foreign workers, to implement a schedule of reimbursement of recruitment fee in respect of the migrant workers.

On this score, we are of the view that the ministry cannot be selective. If Top Glove is to be audited, there is no justification, for the ministry to accord preferential treatment to all other spheres of economic activities. As it stands there is a trust deficit when it comes to the government's handling of the issues of bonded labour, etc.

It is obvious that the employers, and the government, only react when slapped with sanctions by countries importing Malaysian products, as is the case of Top Glove. Today, it is the case of Top Glove, but how will the government react if it spills over to other sectors?

It is, therefore, our earnest hope that the government, and paramountly, employers, subscribe to internationally accepted labour standards in the employment of foreign workers. And, in the said equation, the concerns of debt bondage ought to be eradicated at all cost.

In conclusion, we wish to cite the statement of Top Gloves chairperson Lim Wee Chai (above), as reported by the media, where it is stated: "Nobody was talking about this (recruitment fees) five or 10 years ago".

Our simple response to Lim is this: does a wrong not highlighted five or 10 years ago be a morally and equitable right to justify the company's employment of migrant workers who were enslaved to untold financial distress just on account of seeking employment with your company?

Sir, we believe that a sense of humanity will dictate that workers, regardless of nationality, should not be treated as a mere commodity in the pursuit of profits, and in the process be victims of uncaring recruitment agents who conscript them to a life of bondage labour.

It is our considered view that the zero recruitment fee policy so embraced by the company, and others, ought to have been implemented five, 10 years or even before! For the companies to adopt such a policy, now, is a testimony to the relentless campaign by concerned individuals and organisations who have held on to the belief that bondage labour has to be eradicated.

K VEERIAH is the secretary of the Penang division of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress.

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