In November 2025, it was reported by the Electronic Industry Employees Union that workers employed at Apple supplier, Lumileds, have been subjected to violations of freedom of association in Malaysia.
According to reporting, company management at Lumileds Malaysia has been engaging in ‘anti-union’ practices, including manipulating voter eligibility, threatening migrant workers with retaliatory actions if they support the union, and holding captive audience meetings where benefits were reportedly conditioned on rejecting the union, among a range of other alleged labour rights violations.
These actions amount to blatant violations of workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, guaranteed under Malaysian law and ILO Convention 98, ratified by Malaysia.
Atle Høie, IndustriALL General Secretary
IndustriALL has called on Lumileds to take immediate corrective measures, and has urged Apple to address the violations of workers’ rights to freedom of association.
In January 2026, the Business & Human Rights Centre invited Apple and Lumileds to respond to the allegations. The companies did not respond.