May 20, 2021
KUALA LUMPUR – In December, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workers’ dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove-maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M. Saravanan later likened them to “modern slavery.”
Nineteen months earlier, inspectors from a social-auditing firm private contractors that help companies monitor environmental, social and other ethical standards in industries from toys to palm oil had visited the same three facilities. In three reports over 350 pages, they had detailed 61 violations of global ethical standards and checked boxes for 50 violations of Malaysian labor laws.
May 19, 202112:07 PM UTC
Asia PacificâSlaveryâ found at a Malaysian glove factory. Why didnât the auditor see it?
A. AnanthalakshmiLiz LeeMei Mei Chu
8 minute read
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Top Glove workers wait in line for food distribution outside a hostel under enhanced lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Klang, Malaysia November 17, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng
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In December 2020, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workersâ dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M. Saravanan later likened them to âmodern slavery.â
An audit gave the all-clear. Others alleged slavery
By A. Ananthalakshmi, Liz Lee and Mei Mei Chu
Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - In December 2020, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workers dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M. Saravanan later likened them to modern slavery.
Nineteen months earlier, inspectors from a social-auditing firm - private contractors that help companies monitor environmental, social and other ethical standards in industries from toys to palm oil - had visited the same three facilities. In three reports over 350 pages, they had detailed 61 violations of global ethical standards and checked boxes for 50 violations of Malaysian labour laws.
Reuters Published: 19 May 2021 08:19 PM BdST Updated: 19 May 2021 08:29 PM BdST Top Glove workers wait in line for food distribution outside a hostel under enhanced lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Klang, Malaysia November 17, 2020. REUTERS
In December 2020, with coronavirus infections spreading rapidly across factories and workers dormitories in Malaysia, officials raided latex glove maker Brightway Holdings near Kuala Lumpur. They said they found workers living in shipping containers, under conditions so squalid that human resources minister M Saravanan later likened them to modern slavery. ); }
Nineteen months earlier, inspectors from a social-auditing firm - private contractors that help companies monitor environmental, social and other ethical standards in industries from toys to palm oil - had visited the