Statutory inspections carried out on Supermax, says HR Ministry

PETALING JAYA: A series of statutory inspections against Supermax Corporation Bhd have been carried out by the Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department to ensure compliance with labour laws, says the Human Resources Ministry.

It said these included checks on salary payment, compliance with working hours with overtime, compliance with service contracts and the provision of conducive accommodation by the company.

On September 20, the United States Customs and Border Protection Department (CBP) withdrew the Withhold Release Order (WRO) imposed on products produced by Supermax and its three subsidiaries on 21 October 2021.

“Following the inspections, the employer had implemented a remediation plan amounting to RM25.67 million involving 1,957 foreign workers,” said the ministry.

“In addition, the department held several engagement sessions with the employers to discuss the improvement measures that have been and will be made by the company in dealing with this matter,” it added.

The ministry then said in a statement on Saturday (Sept 23) that the withdrawal of this WRO was made after improvement efforts carried out by the company in eradicating elements of forced labour that have been identified by the US CBP.

It added that the company has been allowed to resume exporting rubber gloves to the United States market effective Sept 18.

The Ministry then said that Supermax's continuous efforts and initiatives as well as ministry enforcement action through the department successfully convinced the US CBP to withdraw the WRO on Supermax and its subsidiaries.

The subsidiaries are Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, Maxter Glove Manufacturing Sdn Bhd.

“Malaysia is very relieved by the withdrawal of this order and hopes it will open up wider investment space for the country while the companies continue to contribute to the economic growth,” it added.

It then said that further efforts and commitment are strengthened through the implementation of the National Action Plan on Forced Labor (NAPFL), the ratification of Protocol 29 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the amendment of labour laws.

The WRO order was imposed by the US CBP based on evidence showing the existence of 10 out of 11 indicators of forced labour practices in the rubber glove product production operations by the company involved.

Among the offenses identified included the illegal deduction of wages, non-conducive accommodation facilities and others.