The Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) wishes to commend Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) on the significant policy measures it has committed itself to in response to the ban on its products by the US Customs and Border Protection due to forced labour practices in its operations.
PSM spokesperson, Rani Rasiah said in a statement, “It is noteworthy that SDP has promised a new ‘culture’ in the employment of migrant workers in order to weed out the problem of forced labour.
“We agree that a new culture is indeed necessary as forced labour and slavery cannot be resolved by short term, piecemeal measures as these practices can keep recurring further down the line, exposing offenders to repeated bans on their products.”
She added, the SDP’s changes in the areas of recruitment and management of migrant workers are a welcome departure from business as usual, along with their promise of ‘ensuring that the welfare and wellbeing of workers are improved and entrenched within the organisation.’
“The SDP has claimed it was unaware of the breach of its zero recruitment fees policy by unscrupulous recruitment agents, and has promised to return over RM80 million wrongfully collected from about 35,000 current and former workers. This is commendable. SDP has also resolved to do a revamp of its agent selection process to ensure greater accountability.”
She said, while we are happy that in SDP at least, the situation for migrant workers will likely improve, it is rather embarrassing that this positive development is not due to our own institutions and systems of check and balance.
“Our institutions failed to regulate our employers. It has fallen upon the US government, itself hardly a paragon of fair play, to call out the mistreatment of migrant workers in our places of work.”
-HR HUB
