AFP, Kuala Lumpur :
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 percent this year as countries worldwide rushed to buy protective gear as the pandemic intensified.
But in interviews with AFP, the South Asian migrants working flat out to make the gloves – who typically earn around $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.
The scandal has added to growing pressure on the firm, 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.
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 percent this year as countries worldwide rushed to buy protective gear as the pandemic intensified.
But in interviews with AFP, the South Asian migrants working flat out to make the gloves – who typically earn around $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.
The scandal has added to growing pressure on the firm, 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.
