Ansell accused of ‘knowingly profiting’ from forced labor at Malaysian glove supplier

Singapore: Ansell is being sued in U.S. court by a group of former migrant workers from Malaysia, and the Australian personal protective equipment giant “knowingly profited” from alleged forced labor in the disposable glove manufacturing industry. claims.

Thirteen Bangladeshi workers say they were trafficked to Malaysia and made to live and work in shocking conditions at Ansell’s supplier Brightway Holdings, a disposable glove manufacturer.

They filed a lawsuit against the ASX-listed company and US company Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KCC) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to seek damages and represent thousands of other workers in a class action lawsuit. woke up

Malaysia, a global hub for glove manufacturing, has been plagued by exposure of migrant workers exposed to forced labor.

In December, Brightway was banned from importing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after it was revealed that 781 employees lived inside three shipping containers at a facility near Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian minister labeled the situation there as resembling “modern-day slavery”.

In the lawsuit against Ansell, Bangladeshi migrant workers complained of dire conditions in Brightway, forced to work more than 12 hours a day, often with limited access to food, water and toilets. He said his passport was confiscated and he suffered physical and emotional distress. verbal abuse.

They said they were forced to pay high recruitment fees, were paid late or incompletely, had to live in overcrowded and unclean accommodation, and were limited when they could move out. They were forced to sleep in one room with as many as 70 workers, some not even having their own beds and pillows.

According to the lawsuit, some were threatened by Brightway management for taking issue with the conditions they had to endure.