... Although we have stopped placing orders, the Panasonic Group has been continuously considering how to support providing remedies for workers who may have been subject to adverse human rights impacts and the steps we should take to ensure responsible disengagement under the current circumstances.

In addition to using the leverage available to us vis-à-vis Kawaguchi Manufacturing, the Panasonic Group has also been working to understand the situation of workers subject to adverse human rights impacts through roundtable discussions with relevant stakeholders, including representatives of these workers and other identified customers of the company, and have been collaboratively considering appropriate remedial measures for these workers...

We understand that, through mediation by the Malaysian Labor Department for Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM), an agreement was reached between Kawaguchi Manufacturing and workers subject to adverse human rights impacts on December 18 that the company would pay the outstanding salaries of 251 workers. Further, we understand that on December 24, an additional agreement was signed by Kawaguchi Manufacturing providing money to cover the airfare of workers wishing to return to Bangladesh.

These steps by Kawaguchi Manufacturing following the JTKSM settlement are to be welcomed but are in our view not sufficient to appropriately remediate the workers’ rights violations they caused and mitigate other risks effectively, as well as to remove a potential barrier for future re-employment. Furthermore, and as recognized by the ILO, the payment of recruitment fees and other related costs incurred by workers to obtain work is a driver of forced labor. Therefore, and pursuant to discussions with relevant stakeholders and other identified customers of the company, the Panasonic Group has decided to further contribute to the remediation of workers’ rights violations by proportionally reimbursing the recruitment fees these workers indicated to have paid. Despite particular challenging circumstances, also in the individual worker identification process, workers have started and will continue to receive payments.

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