A separate complaint was filed against Kawaguchi, which supplied plastic components to large Japanese companies, including Sony Group.
In May, around 280 Bangladeshi migrant workers for Kawaguchi demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and other money owed to them after the company closed five months earlier.
Workers at Kawaguchi’s factory in Port Klang filed complaints in Malaysia and Bangladesh claiming the company withheld their wages for up to eight months before closing after Sony and Panasonic Holdings, two of Kawaguchi’s main customers, halted orders in response to allegations the workers were mistreated.
“In the beginning, they used to pay the salary in parts, meaning they would give RM500 to RM1000 (US$120 to US$240) per month as food expenses,” said former Kawaguchi employee Omar Faruk, who began working for the manufacturer in 2022.
“After withholding the salary, the company started considering shutting down. Later, we filed a complaint at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia.”
Harun Or Rasid Liton, who worked at Mediceram, accused the company of not paying despite an order by the Malaysian Labour Court.
“The court ruled that the company would pay us RM1,000 per month, but the company paid only the first instalment and then stopped paying,” he said. “Later, we had no choice but to return to Bangladesh. Now we are facing severe hardship in maintaining our families.”
There have been widespread reports of abuse of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, and disputes between employees and companies have become a diplomatic sore point between Bangladesh and Malaysia. Workers’ rights groups have demanded stringent scrutiny of the powerful group of recruitment agencies and middlemen who monopolise such jobs.
Source: CNA
