Speaking at a press conference in conjunction with International Migrants Day today, activist Rani Rasiah from the Right to Redress (R2R) coalition of NGOs said the alleged abuse of workers’ rights at Top Glove was the “tip of the iceberg”.

“What was recently exposed about Top Glove wasn’t at all surprising to us. We were not shocked. We have, for a long time, asked the government to urgently formulate a policy but we haven’t had much success,” Rani said.

“What was truly shocking was the reaction of the government, of our labour minister, our controversial labour minister, at least as far as migrant labour is concerned,” she said, referring to human resources minister M Kulasegaran.

“On all that the company was accused of, exorbitant recruitment fees, extensive overtime, holding of passports, how he gave such a smug and unabashed response and just defended Top Glove was very unconvincing as far as we migrant support groups are concerned.”

The Thomas Reuters Foundation revealed earlier this month that migrant workers at Top Glove often work long hours to earn overtime to clear debts to recruitment agents back home and, in some cases, exceed the legal overtime limit.

The company, which produces one of out every four pairs of rubber gloves used in the world through its 11,000 plus migrant workers in Malaysia, said it would investigate and cut ties with unethical recruitment agents.

Kulasegaran has since said that there was no element of coercion on foreign workers to work overtime at Top Glove as ministerial inspections at almost all its factories in Malaysia found that they did so voluntarily.

“I do not deny some foreign workers are working longer than permitted under the Employment Act and we will take action.

“The management of Top Glove has given its commitment to overcome the problem but I can give the assurance that no foreign workers are forced to work overtime in factories,” Kulasegaran said last Monday.

Both Kulasegaran and Top Glove executive chairman Lim Wee Chai have also slammed the claims as “baseless” and “irresponsible”.

But Rani, a Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) member, said “no one is going to tell the truth” because “people don’t want to lose their jobs”, claiming that the workers had been “alerted to” Kulasegaran’s visit.

“There is a law giving the upper limit of overtime in the country. Is it okay for such a law to be broken just because one party wishes it? This is from the minister of human resources.”

Rani said for Kulasegaran, it might be important that big companies did well. However, she asked what this would mean if it was being done at the expense of others.

“He bent over backwards so much to defend the company. If we had a comprehensive policy, abuse would be much less, of course,” she said, citing the comprehensive policy on labour migration drafted by the R2R coalition several years ago.

The document covers aspects of labour migration from recruitment to labour and health, housing and the right to redress.

Rani also urged Kulasegaran not to issue such statements in the future.

“The first thing to do, apart from telling the truth… is to just say, ‘We will look into it and investigate it’. That would sound more convincing, rather than running to their defence.”

Rani was speaking at a joint press conference hosted by human rights organisation Tenaganita, rights advocacy group North-South Initiative and NGO Caram Asia.

The R2R coalition consists of these organisations as well as Penang Stop Human Trafficking, PSM, Jerit, Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

Adrian Pereira, the executive director of North-South Initiative, said it was clear from the Top Glove case that Kulasegaran was “very misled” and “not up to date on global standards” or “totally ill-advised”.

He said the issue was a serious one and if the government did not handle the case properly, investors would lose confidence in Malaysia. He added that the global business world was “watching Malaysia closely” on this.

There are an estimated four to six million migrant workers in Malaysia, comprising up to 30% of the workplace, according to Tenaganita executive director Glorene Dass.

They mainly work in the plantation, manufacturing and construction sectors.