"BlackRock raps board of world's biggest glove maker over worker safety", 7 January 2021

The board of directors of Malaysian firm Top Glove Corp, the world’s largest maker of medical grade gloves, has failed egregiously in protecting its workers from COVID-19, U.S. investor BlackRock said, calling for its removal...

BlackRock cited workers’ accounts of working and living conditions, the firing of the whistleblower and the virus cluster at Top Glove in its criticism of the board. It also voted against re-electing six board members at Top Glove’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.

“We view the board’s ineffectiveness in COVID-19 mitigation and inadequate oversight of worker health and safety issues as especially egregious with potentially serious implications for its reputation as a supplier of such equipment to hospitals around the world,” BlackRock said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Top Glove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has acknowledged that much more needs to be done to raise the standard of employee welfare and has promised to rectify shortcomings quickly...