GEORGE TOWN: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has urged rubber gloves manufacturers to ensure safety measures such as social distancing are observed at their factories.
Its Penang branch secretary K. Veeriah said he has received reports that while these factories have been allowed to operate at full capacity because of the high demand for their products in the fight against Covid-19, there is little regard for the safety and welfare of the employees.
It wants the Malaysian Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association to introduce social distancing and raise the level of cleanliness at the workplace.
In an immediate response, the Penang chapter of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers insisted that social distancing recommendations have been adopted by all factories in line with requirements of the movement control order.
However, it chairman Datuk Dr Ooi Eng Hock conceded that some factories might have “overlooked” it.
“It is probably a work-in-progress and they should be adopting all safety and security measures soonest possible,” he said.
In a statement issued yesterday Veeriah said the MTUC understood that was an urgent need to step up production of personal protection equipment (PPEs) for the use of the frontliners in the Covid-19 war.
However, he alleged, the companies have failed to take adequate measures to prevent the spread of the infection among the workers.
He said a substantial portion of the workers are migrants and they have been made to live in cramped conditions, thus negating the requirement for social distancing.
Veeriah said the MTUC has also received complaints that the work premises as well as the buses used to ferry the workers to the factories have not been sanitized.
“We have also been given to understand that the workers have not been adequately compensated,” he added.
The National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products has lodged a complaint with the International Trade and Industry Ministry alleging a failure by employers to conform with essential conditions such as social distancing.
However, it has yet to receive a response.
