About 50 people participated in an online meeting, organised by Australia Asia Worker Links. They included unionists and solidarity activists from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nepal and Australia.
Union leader Dasantha Jayalath, who worked in the Ansell factory until he was sacked in 2013, said earlier that year the company increased its production targets which meant that workers had no time to relieve themselves. Workplace protests were organised and the company sacked the union president, then 10 more union leaders, including Jayalath.
Eventually, the company sacked about 300 workers for participating in strike action.
Janaka, another sacked Ansell worker, spoke about the long struggle for better pay and conditions at the factory. He said three of his comrades had lost their lives in this struggle, including a unionist who was shot dead by police during a strike in 1994.