Top Glove to vaccinate all staff once Covid-19 vaccine made available

Top Glove Corporation Bhd has pledged to vaccinate all its staff, including foreign workers, once the COVID-19 vaccine is made available.

Executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai said this is to ensure uninterrupted production for the long-run besides making sure the good physical and mental health of its employees in order to achieve good financial health of the company.

"We are still waiting for the vaccine from the government and we will be more than happy to get our staff vaccinated as we have over 21,000 employees at 47 factories and 750 production lines as at December 2020,” he said in a virtual courtesy call with High Commissioner of Bangladesh Golam Sarwar and Labour Counsellor of Nepal Embassy Deepak Dhakal, today.

Lim said to enhance the foreign workers' welfare, the company has continuously invested in better accommodation at its facilities in Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, and Johor for its mid-term plan with a capital expenditure of RM195 million.

"We are building and purchasing new workers’ hostels, fully equipped with facilities and amenities that are expected to be completed by 2023,” he said.

Besides that, he said the company is targeting to become a Fortune Global 500 company by 2030 with its growth to be 10 times bigger, achieving US$30 billion sales revenue and scaling up to 150 factories with 100,000 employees.

"This long-term plan could be achieved through technology and innovation, research and development, as well as artificial and human intelligence, supported by 10,000 global talents, researchers and young university graduates,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sarwar hopes Top Glove would continue to ensure the health and wellbeing of its employees, particularly foreign workers, and ensure that they are protected and vaccinated, especially during the unprecedented time of COVID-19 pandemic.

Top Glove’s net profit surged over 20 times to RM2.38 billion in the first quarter of financial year 2021 ended Nov 30, 2020 (Q1FY21) from RM111.43 million in Q1FY20.

The glove giant was previously embroiled in issues relating to workers’ wellbeing and non-compliance with the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).

The company also made headlines after it became Malaysia’s biggest COVID-19 cluster, the Teratai Cluster.

At 3 pm, shares of Top Glove rose 0.45 per cent to RM6.67. - Bernama