Samsung, Panasonic face migrant abuse allegations in M’sia

KUALA LUMPUR — Electronic giants Samsung and Panasonic said they have started probes into serious allegations of exploitative practices in their supply chains in Malaysia that included extortion and forced labour of migrants.

British paper The Guardian in a special report published on Monday (Nov 21) quoted some of the workers as saying that they were cheated about pay, had their passports confiscated and were forced to work more than 14 hours a day to repay their recruitment levy.

In a harrowing account of their treatment, the workers, all from Nepal, recounted how they were cheated by their agents into thinking that they would be working as smartphone assemblers at a Samsung plant here and promised a fixed pay of RM1,750 (S$565) per month.

Instead the workers said they were sent to the company’s microwave-manufacturing factory, which they claimed was much tougher. To make it worst, the workers said they were paid monthly RM300 less than what was promised.

“(The agent in Nepal) told me it was a (Samsung) mobile phone factory where I would only have to pack mobiles… but I am making microwaves and it is very difficult,” a worker by the name of Bhandari was quoted saying.

The names used in The Guardian’s report were changed for their protection after the paper reported that workers could suffer a backlash from employers.

Bhandari, only 18, is among the 2,000 Nepalese flown over by a middle-man labour recruitment agency for the plant located in Port Klang, Selangor.

Like others, the teenager said he had to take a loan with the recruiters to pay the RM4,200 fee to secure the job, but the 60 per cent interest imposed on the loan had put him and his compatriots under perpetual debt.

“When you go to the recruitment agent, they promise a certain salary and assure you that you will be able to pay back your loan and earn money, but when you get here you find it’s impossible to pay the money back, even if you stay here for two years,” he was quoted as saying.

The Guardian reported that the debt forces them to continue working at the factory.

Changing jobs is also out of the question, said the report, as agents would charge them up to RM1,000 to find new employment, an amount impossible to afford since most are already indebted.

“In Kathmandu the agent told me, ‘If you don’t like the work we’ll change your company…’ That is why I came… (but now) he says I have to give him 20,000 rupees (RM820) to change jobs,” said another worker.

Samsung said it bans suppliers from charging foreign workers recruitment fees or confiscating passports.

The South Korean-multinational corporation, a member of the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), had also pledged to repay worker recruitment debt.

But The Guardian quoting a worker from the company’s supply chain here said Samsung had yet to repay any worker debts nor any compensation at the factory.

Both Samsung and Panasonic in an immediate reply to the report said it has launched an investigation on the matter, but the former maintained that it complies fully with the EICC’s code of conduct.

“As a committed member of the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), we comply fully with the EICC’s Code of Conduct and have found no evidence of violations in the hiring process of migrant workers hired directly by our manufacturing facility in Malaysia. Once there is any complaint, we take swift actions to investigate.

“We are currently conducting on-site investigations of labour supply companies we work with in Malaysia and the migrant employees hired by these companies. If any violations are uncovered, we will make immediate corrective actions and moving forward we will suspend our business with companies that are found to be in violation,” said a Samsung spokesman. MALAY MAIL ONLINE