Migrant worker rights activist Andy Hall has lodged a complaint to the Australian government about how MediCeram, Ansell’s Malaysian supplier, treats its workers.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) complaint came to light at Ansell’s annual general meeting on October 29 in Naarm/Melbourne.
Ansell’s performance has been tainted by a perceived lack of due diligence in its supply chain.
Ron Guy, a Regional Trade Unions Human Rights Shareholder Group representative and member of the Ballarat Regional Trades and Labour Council, asked Ansell chair Nigel Garrard about the cost of fighting paying compensation to complainants in another case connected to an Ansell supplier. Garrard replied that doing business in Asia is difficult.
Hall’s OECD application alleged Ansell had failed in its due diligence. Foreign workers, many from Bangladesh, suffer threats and bullying, delayed wages and poor living conditions.
They allege their passports were taken and, without work permit renewals, they became “illegal”. Focus Malaysia reported on November 12 that 15 Bangladeshi workers were forced to return home from Malaysia because they demanded permit renewals and payment for former workers. The Migrant Welfare Network, based in Malaysia and Bangladesh, alleges that 400 affected workers from MediCeram and Kawaguchi Manufacturing are still owed wages.
Ansell’s PR firm Sefiani has alleged to international media that Hall and his team, who have been campaigning against modern-day slavery, are corrupt. Instead of focusing on illuminating modern day slavery, its strategy is to discredit the messenger.
Ansell said on November 12 it had suspended its relationship with MediCeram and is paying out more than US$1 million to workers “ahead of originally agreed timelines”. It said it was “surprised” that Mediceram had terminated 177 foreign workers.
As Australia’s superannuation funds continue to grow, much of it coming from union members, we must expect that profits not derive from modern-day slavery or genocide.