Workers At Mould Making Plant Not Paid For 3 Months Claims Activist

---

 
The workers are employed by a ceramic former and specialist gloves mould manufacturer. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Close to 200 Bangladeshi workers employed by a ceramic former and specialist gloves mould manufacturer have gone without pay for three months, a migrant worker rights activist has claimed.
Andy Hall said based on information gathered by a team member helping the workers claim their rights, some 190 of them have not received their basic pay for three months or payment for overtime work for the past five months.
The workers are also in debt after paying exorbitant recruitment fees in the hope of finding jobs in Malaysia, he said.
Hall said the group, based in a southern state, also claimed that they have been inconsistently paid since 2023.
They also alleged that they are being put up in poor living conditions and are not allowed to keep their passports.
FMT is withholding the name of the company pending its response.
“This inconsistent payment of wages has forced the workers to take loans from banks or borrow money from relatives to pay off their recruitment fees, which are about RM25,000.
“Now, they are struggling to settle these bank loans, and the interest is increasing,” Hall said.
However, he said local and international buyers of the company’s moulds that he has engaged with in the past few days have helped to address the situation, and the company has agreed to settle the outstanding salaries by the end of this month.
About 50 workers from the group were reported to have filed a complaint against the company at the labour department yesterday.
Hall said companies supplying moulds to leading local and international glove manufacturers should be investigated if they are employing forced labour.
“Each major glove company uses millions of moulds every year, so there is a need to ask for evidence of the conditions under which these moulds are made,” he said. - FMT

---