Former workers at Malaysian rubber glove maker Brightway Holdings Sdn Bhd have filed a lawsuit in the US against Kimberly-Clark Corp and Ansell Ltd, accusing them of “knowingly profiting” from the alleged use of forced labor at the supplier, according to the complaint seen by Reuters.
The workers — all citizens of Bangladesh — say Kimberly-Clark and Ansell were aware of the alleged labor abuses through public reports on Brightway and other Malaysian glove makers, and contraventions found by labor audits, said the complaint, which was filed late on Tuesday in the US.
EXPLOITATION
Malaysia, which depends on millions of migrant workers from South Asian countries, has faced allegations of exploitation across key export-oriented industries over the years. Eight Malaysian firms, including six glove makers, have been banned by the US in the past three years.
In the lawsuit, the 13 former Brightway workers say they paid high recruitment fees to intermediaries that resulted in debt bondage, worked long hours with few or no rest days and had their passports taken by the company.
They are seeking damages from Kimberly-Clark, a US personal care company that owns the Kleenex brand, and Australian personal protective equipment supplier Ansell in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia.
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
“These companies cannot deny that they had knowledge of forced labor at Brightway,” said Terrence Collingsworth, a lawyer from International Rights Advocates representing the workers.
Collingsworth said he had first proposed mediation with Kimberly-Clark and Ansell to obtain compensation for the workers, but both companies declined.
The US banned Brightway products from entering the country in December last year over suspected forced labor practices, saying it had found 10 of 11 UN International Labour Organization indicators of forced labor.
‘MODERN SLAVERY’
Allegations of misconduct at Brightway had been public for at least a year before that.
In December 2020, Malaysian officials found Brightway workers living in shipping containers, and a minister likened the squalid conditions to “modern slavery” after a raid.
Reuters reported in May last year that labor audits of Brightway had detailed 61 contraventions of global ethical standards and 50 contraventions of Malaysian labor laws, even though the auditors concluded that they did not find forced labor.
Ansell said at the time that the audits, when it inspected them, had “revealed several non-compliances with labor standards.”
Both companies then said Brightway had fixed some of these problems since the government raid in December.
Buyers such as Kimberly-Clark and Ansell use labor audits to monitor their supply chain.
Andy Hall, an independent labor activist who has investigated Brightway, said factories should not be the only players penalized for labor violations.
“Brands and buyers fail to comply with their stated commitments to conduct more adequate due diligence to prevent modern slavery conditions... We need adequate remediation from them, too, and from investors and public procurers,” Hall said.
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