Migrant workers making PPE for firms supplying the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic are earning as little as £1.08 an hour in cramped factories, an investigation has found.
Staff employed by Top Glove in Malaysia, the world’s largest manufacturer of medical gloves, have told Channel 4 News for a special report, broadcast tonight, of the level of exploitation seen in factories.
It is set to raise serious questions about whether the company is adhering to international and UK law and standards in its efforts to meet the huge global demand for PPE.
Migrant workers, pictured, making PPE for firms supplying the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic are earning as little as £1.08 an hour in cramped factories, a Channel 4 News investigation has found
Top Globe staff fear catching the virus due to poor social distancing in factories and in worker hostels, pictured, where there can be up to 24 people per room
Workers are not paid for the additional time, up to 30 minutes per day, they spend queuing for temperature checks, meaning they are effectively paid less than Malaysia’s minimum wage
The broadcaster has been told workers are regularly putting in 12-hour shifts, six days a week, while payslips reveal some are clocking up 111 hours in overtime, breaching Malaysian law.
Top Glove is also accused of making illegal deductions from the salaries of its workers, who fear catching the virus due to poor social distancing in factories and in worker hostels, where there can be up to 24 people per room.
The company, which declined to address any of the allegations specifically but said the broadcaster’s report was inaccurate, reported a 366 per cent increase in quarterly profits because of huge demand for PPE.
It has been a supplier of gloves to Polyco Healthline, a major contractor to the NHS Supply Chain, which provides PPE to UK hospitals.
Documents show that BM Polyco, a subsidiary of Polyco Healthline, ordered 2.8 million gloves from Top Glove in February.
Polyco Healthline insists the order was not for the NHS and that it has not ordered from the NHS for ‘several months’.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the UK government put pressure on the Malaysian Government to increase production of gloves amid chronic shortages in NHS hospitals and care homes.
Top Glove maintains it has taken appropriate measures to protect its workers during the lockdown, but Channel 4 News has seen evidence that the company has failed to properly enforce social distancing at its factories, worker hostels and transportation.
Despite Channel 4 News seeing evidence that Top Glove has failed to properly enforce social distancing, the company maintains it has taken appropriate measures to protect its workers during the lockdown
This is in breach of Movement Control Order measures imposed by the Malaysian Government on essential industries as part of its Covid-19 preventative strategy.
Migrant workers from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal are housed in cramped and squalid company-run hostels.
A union leader in Malaysia warned that the sub-standard accommodation was a potential breeding ground for a spread of Covid-19, after mass outbreaks of the disease in migrant worker hostels in neighbouring Singapore.
‘All they need is only one person if at all contacted with someone who has COVID, the entire group of workers will be in a vulnerable situation as what happened in Singapore,’ said Gopal Krishnam, former Secretary General of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress.
Top Glove workers said the company compels them to work 12-hour shifts, six days per week. They are paid Malaysia’s minimum wage, approximately £1.08 per hour. Overtime rates are just £1.50.
Workers also claim the company makes unlawful deductions from its employees’ salaries for lateness and clocking out early from the factory.
Workers are not paid for the additional time, up to 30 minutes per day, they spend queuing for temperature checks, meaning they are effectively paid less than Malaysia’s minimum wage.
Payslips show that some migrant staff have worked up to 111 hours in overtime each month – in excess of the maximum allowed under Malaysia’s employment laws.
Many workers have paid extortionate recruitment fees of up to 5,000 US dollars to agents in their home countries, leaving them in effective debt bondage.
Many are trapped in poverty because they are paid a basic wage of 1,200 Ringgit per month (approximately £225) which, after deductions, leaves them with little money to live on, let alone send to their families back home.
The lack of social distancing in hostels, pictured, is in breach of Movement Control Order measures imposed by the Malaysian Government on essential industries as part of its Covid-19 preventative strategy
Concerns about the conditions of migrant workers at Top Glove were first raised in December 2018 in investigations by the Guardian and Thomson Reuters.
The Department of Health and Social Care announced an investigation which was initiated by NHS Supply Chain.
NHS Supply Chain confirmed that one of its biggest glove suppliers, Polyco Healthline, had purchased product from Top Glove for the NHS.
They said an ‘action plan’ was agreed and an audit was carried out and completed in August 2019 that showed Top Glove had made ‘good progress’ in addressing concerns.
A spokesman for the company told Channel 4 News: ‘Top Glove is compliant with labour laws and social compliance requirements & is committed to continuously improving our labour practices.’
The Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We take all allegations of modern slavery very seriously and we expect all suppliers to the NHS to follow the highest legal and ethical standards.
‘The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur engages regularly with the Government of Malaysia on improving the protection of vulnerable migrant workers.’
Polyco Healthline said it had not supplied product manufactured by Top Glove to the NHS for ‘several months’, and that the order placed by its subsidiary BM Polyco was not for the NHS.
Polyco Healthline declined to give Channel 4 News a statement but made clear this order was not for the NHS. They insisted that any gloves produced for the NHS had come from a different Top Glove factory that was ‘A rated.’