Malaysian company ATA has been dropped as a supplier for Dyson after allegations regarding forced labour practices. ATA is currently being investigated by the United States, and it previously denied the allegations back in May.
Dyson said it received the audit results of the working conditions at ATA in early October. It said it had also learned in September about allegations from a whistleblower about “unacceptable actions” by ATA staff. It had then commissioned a law firm to investigate the claims and found that it has “not seen sufficient progress and have already removed some production lines”.
“We have now terminated our relationship with six months’ of contractual notice. We hope this gives ATA the impetus to improve and enables an orderly withdrawal in the interests of the workers that they employ,” said Dyson.
According to Reuters, seven current and former employees of ATA said they had worked overtime hours in excess of limits under Malaysian law and paid recruitment fees in their home countries to labour brokers—a practice that activists have criticised as a form of debt bondage. Employees also worked public holidays at the ATA plant, and even on what were supposed to be rest days.
A payslip showed that one worker had worked 126 hours of overtime in May. Under Malaysian law, workers are only allowed to work up to 104 hours of overtime in a month. Despite the findings, ATA denied all of the allegations at first. But in a statement, ATA said that it had taken steps to engage Dyson and advisers after it was notified of the summary of the labour audit, and said that it would look into the findings.
According to activist Andy Hall, said that he has made multiple complaints in the past year to the Malaysian government about ATA—adding that the government should bear responsibility. Additionally, Hall said that Dyson’s decision to terminate the relationship would have huge implications for the thousands of workers employed at ATA and that Dyson should “remediate ATA workers”.
This isn’t the first time Malaysia was under fire for terrible working and living conditions for labourers. Forced labour had been reported in Malaysia’s rubber glove factory, Top Glove. There was even footage revealed of how bad it truly is for migrant workers in the factory.
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