29 November, 2013Ansell’s union busting in Sri Lanka and Malaysia has been condemned by over 8,500 supporters through the IndustriALL-LabourStart campaign. This week IndustriALL lodged an official OECD complaint against the multinational latex rubber producer.
See the full text of IndustriALL’s OECD complaint here.
The complaint, lodged with the Australian National Contact Point for the OECD, sets out breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by Ansell in its operations in Sri Lanka and Malaysia, in relation to human rights, trade union rights, and occupational health and safety.
Responding to an automated reply to the LabourStart protest messages sent to Ansell, IndustriALL general secretary Jyrki Raina said:
We were surprised to read the company’s claim that it was striving to resolve the matter in accordance with national laws. Ansell has treated every request and attempted intervention from the Commissioner of Labour in Sri Lanka with contempt and refusal to comply.
Large portions of Ansell Lanka’s products are exported to the US and Australia. Major purchasers of Ansell products include governments, military, health care institutions, correctional institutions, security agencies and companies, safety equipment supply houses, laboratory supply houses, and retailers.
Visit the “No to Dirty Ansell Gloves” campaign page to write to the union and to join the IndustriALL-LabourStart campaign by writing to the Ansell CEO Magnus Nicolin.
Since 2011 the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union (FTZGSEU) and IndustriALL have repeatedly expressed their desire to convene an effective joint investigation of a number of suspicious health issues, including reproductive effects and cancer and leukemia cases at Ansell’s Sri Lanka facility.
Ansell refuses to recognise the FTGSEU, refuses to respect collective bargaining, forces workers to urinate at their work stations to maintain fast production and then blames and victimises the union for ensuing employee unrest. The workforce is paid poverty wages and undermined by an increasing number of precarious workers. Almost all branch union office bearers have been summarily dismissed.
IndustriALL Global Union will continue to stand behind its Sri Lankan and Malaysian affiliate in front of this intransigent multinational employer. The OECD complaint is just one aspect of the ongoing and evolving campaign for trade union rights at the company.