ATA IMS falls as much as 7.33% on allegation of exploiting foreign workers
KUALA LUMPUR (June 21): Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider ATA IMS Bhd, which is making products such as vacuum cleaner bin bases and battery covers for Dyson Ltd, fell as much as 20 sen or 7.33% to RM2.53 this morning, after a British newspaper revealed that the group is exploiting foreign workers.
At 11.48am, ATA IMS pared some losses at RM2.59, still down 14 sen or 5.13%. The counter saw 3.14 million shares traded.
The Sunday Mirror reported yesterday that the workers of ATA IMS are packed into a room with more than 60 others and have to work up to 186 hours overtime a month to make ends meet.
“The work is very hard, the hours very long and we have no space to ourselves — but we need to support our families,” the daily quoted a foreign worker as saying.
Dyson, however, denied the allegation yesterday, saying that based on the group’s regular audits, as well as regulatory filings by ATA IMS, it is confident that these allegations and images do not relate to Dyson’s supply chain and that Dyson products are not manufactured by workers living in these alleged conditions.
“We hold our suppliers to account and if any breaches of our policies were to be found we would take swift corrective action.
“We operate an ethical and responsible global supply chain, our approach is anchored in constant improvement and we take action where we see any evidence of wrongdoing,” it said.
It also said that as a company, it is committed to policies and standards consistent with international regulations that are regularly and thoroughly reviewed with all suppliers.
“All suppliers commit to these contractually binding standards which are monitored regularly through our own audits as well as those undertaken by independent internationally recognised auditing companies,” it said.
When contacted, ATA IMS said it will issue a statement on the issue at noon.
The group had earlier in May denied that the company is using forced labour in its manufacturing process.
"None of our employees are subject to forced labour. As a contract manufacturer, we are bound to apply the international labour standards adopted by our main customer. We are audited by our main customer and the global retailers of our main customers' products regularly to ensure strict compliance," said ATA IMS when contacted by The Edge.
"Our recruitment practice is fully compliant with international best practices. In particular, we pay for all recruitment costs so that our workers do not pay any recruitment fees on their part. Also, our workers keep their own passports," it added.
The company also believes that it provides good living conditions for its workers. "We believe our dormitories are the best in class with a gym, safe deposit boxes, Wi-Fi, cafeteria and other amenities within our compound," it said.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ata-ims-falls-much-733-allegation-exploiting-foreign-workers
