Malaysia will look into Dyson's decision to sever connections with the ATA

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Malaysia announced on Friday (November 26) that it will investigate Dyson's decision to cut ties with ATA IMS over the Malaysian supplier's labour violations.

After an examination of the company's labour standards and allegations from a whistleblower, Dyson informed Reuters on Thursday that it was terminating its contract with ATA.

 

M Saravanan, Malaysia's Human Resources Minister, stated that the government wants to hear both parties' reasons.

"Dyson did not want to prolong the contract, according to my sources, due to a labour shortage.
There are two distinct stories here "Saravanan informed reporters that he was looking forward to hearing Dyson's side of the storey.

Malaysia has been criticised for charges that migrant workers are exposed to terrible working and living circumstances, and the United States is already investigating ATA for suspicions of forced labour.

 

Saravanan said he's heard complaints in Malaysia about the use of forced labour, including pushing people to work long hours owing to labour shortages and the collecting of recruitment fees by brokers.

His statements were not immediately responded to by Dyson or ATA.

 

On Friday, the ATA said it was considering charges of forced labour in an audit summary it received from Dyson, as well as claims of physical abuse made by a former employee, carefully.

The company claimed it hired an unnamed firm of consultants to analyse and verify the findings and take any necessary steps as soon as it was alerted of Dyson's investigation.

ATA said it had recruited a Malaysian legal company to conduct an independent assessment of the former employee's allegations of physical abuse, and that a thorough report would be completed soon.

 

"The preliminary results of the independent law firm suggest that the charges may be unfounded," the statement read.

Former ATA worker Dhan Kumar Limbu told Reuters that in June, ATA officials took him to a police station and questioned him about sharing information about working conditions with activists, after which he was attacked by police.

 

A request for comment from Malaysian police was not returned.

Limbu told Reuters that he notified Dyson's lawyers about his ordeal in an interview.

The ATA stated that it is subject to frequent audits and inspections of its workers' working and residential circumstances.

 

"No concerns of forced labour were detected in the company during any of these audits and inspections," it stated, adding that some of the inspections by government agencies and the national human rights institution were ad hoc.

Seven current and former ATA employees told Reuters that they worked overtime in excess of Malaysian law limitations and paid recruitment fees to labour brokers in their home countries, a practise that activists have criticised as a kind of debt bondage.