Updated: December 13, 2020 7:10:35 am
The violence erupted during a shift change at the plant due to non-payment of promised wages, local officials said.
Workers made a violent rampage at a facility that made Apple iPhones and other products about 60 km from Bangalore on Saturday morning, causing extensive damage to the facility.
Work was discontinued at Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd’s 43-acre plant in the Narasapura area of the Kolar district. More than 100 people have been arrested, police said.
Violence erupted during a shift change at the plant due to non-payment of promised wages, local officials said.
“The workers destroyed the factory over a dispute over the payment of wages. It was an unnecessary action. The entire reception area was damaged. Phones manufactured at the plant were removed. One car was burned and two company cars were damaged, ”said Kolar Deputy Commissioner C Satyabhama.
The deputy commissioner said the company had decided to suspend operations for a few days in light of Saturday’s violence. “It seems that the workers were unhappy because the wages were not paid as promised. The matter was never reported to the labor department or district authorities. They have blatantly attacked the plant. The company also did not report any discomfort, ”Satyabhama said.
Local officials said that following the Covid-19 shutdown, the salaries of workers, including engineering graduates who earn between 15,000 and 21,000 rupees a month, were reduced by 7,000-9,000 rupees.
The Taiwan-based technical service provider company opened the Kolar plant last year with an initial investment of Rs 680 million. It operates as a service center and manufacturing center for products, including the iPhone, and employs about 3,000 workers. The company is looking to invest almost Rs 3,000 crore more to expand the facilities and aims to provide employment for 9,467 local residents when the second phase of the plant is completed.
“We had a meeting of company officials and senior government officials recently on Wistron’s proposal to expand the plant. At that time, the officials did not raise any issues about the worker unrest, ”the DC said. “What has happened is very, very regrettable. It seems that some thugs infiltrated the facility, ”he said.
Inspector General of Police, Central Field, Seemanth Kumar Singh, said: “About 125 people have been arrested. There is no union or union leader in the company. The workers allege that they do not receive their wages on time and that they are not paid overtime. A case of arson, disturbances, robbery and obstruction of the police has been registered ”. A team of police officers who went to the factory first was also attacked, the officer said.
Karnataka has witnessed several incidents of labor unrest in recent weeks. More than 3,500 workers at automaker Toyota Kirloskar Motors have been on strike since November 10. The Bidadi factory, about 40 km from Bangalore, has been blocked, with workers on strike protesting their increased workload since then.
November 9 after the company decided to step up manufacturing to meet growing demand: camping outdoors.
On Friday, nearly 1 lakh of workers from the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation went on a sudden strike, paralyzing 20,000 buses and paralyzing the state’s interdistrict transportation system.
KSRTC workers demand payments on par with other government employees. Talks between the government and the workers’ unions failed on Saturday. With the strike set to continue, the government has proposed introducing private buses on Sunday.
Toyota workers have participated in agricultural protests and one of the leaders of the KSRTC workers’ strike is peasant leader Kodihalli Chandrashekhar.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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