American tire producer Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is dealing with expenses of unpaid wages, unlawful extra time and threatening international staff at its Malaysian manufacturing unit, in line with court docket paperwork and complaints filed by staff.
In interviews with Reuters, six present and former international staff and Malaysia’s Labor Department officers say Goodyear took unfair pay cuts, required extreme hours and denied staff full entry to their passports.
The division confirmed that it had fined Goodyear in 2020 for overworking and underpaid international staff. A former worker mentioned the corporate had illegally held her passport, displaying an acknowledgment letter to Reuters that she had signed in January 2020, when she started working at Goodyear.
The allegations, which Reuters is the primary to report, initially emerged after 185 international staff filed three complaints towards Goodyear Malaysia within the nation’s industrial court docket, two in 2019 and one in 2020 for non-compliance with a collective labor settlement. On. The staff alleged that the corporate was not giving them shift allowances, annual bonuses and wage will increase, though these advantages have been accessible to native staff, represented by a labor union.
The court docket dominated in two circumstances final yr in favor of international staff, stating that they have been entitled to the identical rights as Malaysian staff, in line with copies of the judgment revealed on the court docket’s web site. According to the choice and the employees’ lawyer, Goodyear was ordered to pay wages and to comply with the collective settlement.
Around 150 workers pay slips, which the lawyer offered in court docket as proof of unpaid wages and have been reviewed by Reuters, confirmed some migrants working 229 hours a month in extra time, a 108-hour Malaysian was over the restrict.
His lawyer Chandra Segaran Rajendran mentioned that international staff are claiming about 5 million ringgit ($ 1.21 million) in unpaid wages. The laborers are from Nepal, Myanmar and India.
“They are put in a situation where they are being deprived of their full rights conferred (by law),” he mentioned, including that it’s “discrimination”.
Goodyear, one of many world’s largest tire producers, has challenged each selections within the High Court. A choice on the attraction is predicted on July 26. A choice on the third case on the identical situation goes to come back within the coming weeks.
Goodyear declined to touch upon any allegations, citing the court docket course of. According to the court docket’s ruling final yr, Goodyear Malaysia argued that international staff are usually not entitled to the advantages of the collective settlement as a result of they don’t seem to be union members.
According to the ruling, a union consultant testified that international staff are eligible to hitch and are entitled to advantages within the collective settlement, even when they don’t seem to be members. The court docket agreed that the scope of international staff’ jobs entitles them to these advantages.
Goodyear instructed Reuters that they’ve sturdy insurance policies and practices referring to and defending human rights.
“We take seriously any allegations of inappropriate behavior related to our partners, operations and supply chain,” a consultant mentioned in an electronic mail.
The union – The National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products – didn’t reply to Reuters ‘requests for touch upon staff’ complaints. Goodyear’s Malaysia operation is collectively owned by the nation’s largest fund supervisor, Paramodalan National Barhad, who directed the questions Good Year.
Activists mentioned they confronted threats from Goodyear after submitting the lawsuit. Goodyear declined to remark.
“The company had different rules for different sets of employees,” mentioned Sharan Kumar Rai, who filed a lawsuit and labored at Goodyear in Malaysia from 2012 till final yr.
Foreign staff filed the primary two lawsuits in July 2019. Shortly thereafter, Goodyear requested some individuals to signal letters with out their lawyer’s information, saying they’d withdraw from authorized motion, in line with their lawyer, the complaints lodged with the police in October 2019 and a replica seen by Reuters About the letter. Reporting a criticism to the police doesn’t at all times lead to felony expenses, however can set off an investigation.
Anna Ng Fui Chu, chairman of the commercial court docket, mentioned in his ruling that the letter was “an act of unfair labor practice”.
Malaysia’s Labor Department instructed Reuters that it investigated and accused Goodyear in 2020 of 9 violations of labor legal guidelines unrelated to lawsuits, in relation to extreme hours and fallacious pay cuts. It fined Goodyear 41,500 ringgit ($ 10,050), it mentioned.
Malaysia has confronted allegations of labor abuse lately by its personal ministry of human sources and officers within the United States of America to make the whole lot from palm oil to medical gloves and iPhone elements to hundreds of thousands of expatriates. Are depending on staff.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
