Global union federations, including the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), representing workers across the Asia-Pacific region, have called on Australian-incorporated medical glove manufacturer Ansell Ltd. to take responsibility for alleged forced labour and other exploitative employment practices in its supply chain, particularly involving migrant workers in Malaysia.

In a joint statement, the unions condemned Ansell’s failure to adequately address allegations of modern slavery, citing the case of 177 Bangladeshi migrant workers employed by MediCeram, an Ansell supplier, who were terminated and forcibly repatriated in late 2025, many without their passports. The unions also reported that elected workers’ representatives were among those targeted first. The incident follows earlier allegations of labour abuses in Ansell’s Malaysian and Thai supply chains, including a 2022 case involving unpaid wages, withheld passports and recruitment fees affecting Bangladeshi migrant workers.