In an immediate response to a recent statement made by the Malaysia International Humanitarian Organization (MHO) calling on all stakeholders to adopt an open, transparent, and equitable policy towards the recruitment of workers, the President of the Malaysian Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) Dr Supramaniam Shanmugam reiterated that the statement is made at the most opportune moment and very rightly spoken.
Dr Supra said that MARGMA has been advocating for an open and transparent recruitment policy in line with the industry’s commitment to Zero Debt Bondage. Its members which are stakeholders are aware of what to expect and respect this call. The long-standing debt bondage recruitment policy, which had resulted in charging exorbitant fees to job-seeking foreign workers, had only benefitted unscrupulous recruitment agents in the source countries and had victimized both employees (foreign workers) and employers in hiring countries.
“We should put a halt to these greedy recruitment agents profiteering on job-seeking foreign workers in their quest to take up good work opportunities and employment in Malaysia. The workers should not be held under duress to borrow money and start their employment in Malaysia with a debt to agents. To resolve this debt bondage issue, employers particularly in the Rubber Glove industry, have taken the lead, to remediate the workers on those exorbitant recruitment fees, lest the employers fall foul of ILO’s Forced Labour requirements” he said.
The association believes that the Government is aware of these excessive fees and will hopefully establish a resolution with the source country’s Government to eradicate the exorbitant recruitment fees to unburden workers and their benevolent employers. Transparency on actual recruitment fees from source countries will be key to facilitating this process and promoting understanding to all potential employers and recruitment agents.
This is hoped to become the benchmark for recruitment agents, hence doing away with arbitrary and excessive recruitment fees. Fees imposed should be fair and reasonable to both the workers and the employers to ensure employment is justified for the industry to operate said MARGMA. It added that the members which are largely investing in the industry expansion in Malaysia is all for an open market policy to stimulate future investments and consequently to create greater job opportunities for both the foreign workers and local employees.
