Bad news for the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) and good news for locals, especially those retrenched.
According to news reports, Labour Department said no to hiring of foreign workers as proposed by Margma earlier, as the organisation needs to improve work conditions and wages to attract locals.
"I have instructed my officers to find out what measures the manufacturers took to seek local workers, and what kind of work conditions and wages they provided so that a decision could be made fast (by the department)," the department's director-general Datuk Ismail Abdul Rahimhe was quoted in the report.
The report stated tahat although the department had yet to receive a formal application from the association, he had directed his officers to take proactive action and contact the association immediately to find out its needs.
