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In 2021, ANMF stood in support of workers struggling under ‘debt bondage’ arrangements – a form of modern slavery – while making gloves and other PPE for Melbourne-based multinational company Ansell.
Five years on, things have not improved for many workers in Ansell’s supply chains – and, of course, Australian hospitals and healthcare workers still heavily rely on gloves and other Ansell products.
ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Maddy Harradence recently pledged the Branch’s continued support for workers in Ansell factories, and has called on members to join the campaign.
What is happening?
Despite its headquarters being based in Melbourne, Ansell relies heavily on workers and suppliers in Asia. Allegations have recently emerged that one of Ansell’s suppliers, Malaysian factory MediCeram, is exploiting hundreds of its workers through wage theft, debt bondage and forced labour.
MediCeram denies the accusations. International migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall says that while Ansell’s own internal investigation identified international labour law breaches, it has failed in its obligations to work with suppliers to fix the issues.
In support of the workers, Andy and other activists have launched a campaign to ensure Ansell compensates MediCeram’s migrant forced labour victims and cleans up its supply chain in Malaysia and around the world.
The campaign, called Stop Modern Slavery in Ansell’s Supply Chain, is a shareholder action campaign bringing ordinary people together to push for ethical supply chains at Ansell, alongside stronger accountability and transparency.
The shareholders, workers’ rights advocates, researchers and supporters of the campaign have created a pledge that is intended to identify individuals and supporters who:
- currently hold Ansell shares
- are interested in purchasing shares
- or would like to support future shareholder advocacy initiatives connected to ethical supply chains and labour-rights protections.
By signing the pledge, you support stronger corporate accountability, responsible supply chain oversight, transparency, and the protection of migrant worker rights.
Healthcare and modern slavery in Australia
The Ansell campaign comes amid renewed calls for Australia to strengthen our modern slavery laws, which at present mandates large businesses – including private and public healthcare enterprises – to provide annual reports outlining how they identify and address the risks of modern slavery within their operations and supply chains.
The laws do not, however, impose mandatory obligations on companies to take action nor do they impose consequences on companies that fail to do so.
The Albanese Government in 2025 committed to strengthening the laws but has not yet done so.
At this year’s ANMF Australian Nurses and Midwives Conference in May, members heard from St Vincent’s RN Eve Wintergreen and her colleague Tarang Jain about their first-of-its-kind work in addressing modern slavery as healthcare workers.
Tarang noted that while most Australian healthcare organisations admit that ‘there may be links to various forms of exploitation within global supply chains responsible for surgical instruments or medical devices, they tend to ignore what’s happening locally.’
Through the St Vincent’s Health Anti-Modern Slavery project, Eve and Tarang and their colleagues are working to change this, in partnership with the Australian Federal Police and others.
Members who want to find out more can contact Eve and Tarang via AntiModernSlavery@SVHA.org.au.
