KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seized a shipment of 3.97 million nitrile disposable gloves from Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd estimated to be worth US$518,000 (RM2.13mil), on indications they were made by forced labour, it said Wednesday (May 5).
CBP on March 29 issued a forced labour finding based on evidence of multiple forced labour indicators in the world's largest medical glove maker's production process.
It had initially banned products from two of Top Glove's subsidiaries last July, but extended the ban to all of the manufacturer's products made in Malaysia in March.
The indicators included debt bondage, excessive overtime, abusive working and living conditions, and retention of identity documents, the CBP said in a statement.