Human Resource Minister M Saravanan has confirmed that information surrounding a multi-agency raid at a glove factory in Klang on Thursday was leaked to the factory owner.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Saravanan said this led to the raiding team’s discovery of poor living conditions, but there were no workers left at the factory’s premises.
“Although we received solid evidence that the workers’ dormitories were not in compliance with Act 446 (Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990), and so we organised a raid, that information was leaked.
“Before we arrived at the factory, the employer moved the workers out from their cramped rooms to a nearby hotel, in order to evade authorities,” Saravanan was quoted as saying.
Sources previously claimed that the factory management had been tipped off about the raid by “government insiders”, leading to an overnight clean-up of the workers’ dormitories.
However, a spokesperson for the company denied this, saying instead while there was room for improvement with the dormitories, the workers did not complain.
Klang District health officer Ili Syazwani Mohd Mashudi had said the health office found several violations, including a lack of regular sanitisation and flouting of social distancing.
Human Resources Ministry deputy director-general (operations) Mohd Asri Abdul Sahab, meanwhile, said that some of the living arrangements, such as triple-decker beds, could be dangerous to workers.
Saravanan further warned the company to stop such tactics.
“We are closely monitoring the factory…I want to see how much longer they can hide the workers from us.
“The company is still operating, we will act at the right time, soon,” he added.
The factory has so far escaped shutdown and was instead fined RM1,000 by the Selangor Health Department for failing to comply with Covid-19 preventive measures.
The company based in Klang, together with another glove company in Kajang that was raided on Monday, are subsidiaries of Brightway Holdings Sdn Bhd.
The number of Covid-19 positive cases in Klang had recorded a spike after the discovery of new clusters linked to foreign worker accommodations, starting with the Top Glove factory dormitories.
Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah expressed shock and outrage over the paltry RM1,000 fine.
In a statement, she said the fine for violators was meant to be a deterrent and it should be tiered according to the degree of violation, which could be up to RM10,000.
“It is shocking that the authorities could only penalise the Port Klang glove factory a meagre RM1000 for violating the SOPs,” Maria said.
“Other ordinary citizens were known to have been fined up to RM8,000. It is also more worrying to learn of corporates, regardless of their sizes, violating the SOPs and have little regard for its workers’ health and safety conditions.”
Maria also noted that two other leading glove manufacturers – Kossan Rubber Industries and Top Glove – have recorded more than 7,000 Covid-19 cases between them.
Top Glove is presently facing legal action for violating SOPs, which resulted in 28 of its branches having to stop work with thousands of workers tested positive for the disease.
“For sure, there is now an urgent need to have a more vigilant and effective monitoring mechanism to ensure corporates’ adherence to SOPs for their workers.
“This must be implemented immediately, especially in view of rising Covid-19 cases.
“What happened at the various glove companies must be a stern lesson for businesses to seize the moment to be better placed to support their employees and drive sustainable business performance,” Maria said.
She added that Malaysia has the opportunity to rebuild a more equitable, inclusive workplace and healthy workers that will strengthen corporate organisations far beyond Covid-19.