The Siam Sempermed plant located at Songkhla in the south of Thailand is owned by the Austrian company Semperit and the Thai company Sri Trang Group.
"Workers say that they pack gloves in boxes for up to 13 hours a day without legally mandated breaks. Overtime is required and they are not allowed to leave for home before their quotas are fulfilled," says Finnwatch Executive Director Sonja Vartiala.
According to workers cited in the report, they are also not allowed to have annual holidays.
Eighteen migrant workers employed in the plant's packing department were interviewed for the Finnwatch report. Semperit has denied any problems and says that the information given by interviewees is mainly based on speculation and hearsay.
According to Finnwatch, Semperit medical examination gloves are in use in Finland including at facilities of at least five hospital districts, and the social and healthcare services of the Kainuu region.
Distributor concerned
The CEO of the Finnish importer and marketer of the gloves in Finland, Markus Henriksson of OneMed, told Yle that his company is taking the claims made in the Finnwatch report seriously and if true cannot approve of conditions at the plant.
Henriksson pointed out that there are two conflicting points of view - the Finnwatch report and the denial by Semperit Finnwatch says it has received.
"We won't leave it there, but will carry out our own audit," said Henriksson.
OneMed has an office in Asia and two certified auditors. The company will now be carrying out an audit of the plant before summer.
Markus Henriksson added that the matter has been already taken up with Semperit and that if the report is accurate, OneMed will demand that Semperit management corrects the situation and observes workplace standards in line with local law and international norms.