Some temporary staff at Wistron’s Kolar plant, Apple Inc.’s contract maker, had not been paid for the past three months and female employees had inadequate facilities, Karnataka Labor Minister Shivaram Hebbar said.
The iPhone maker’s attempt to expand manufacturing in India ran into difficulties after workers at its supplier’s plant near Bengaluru rioted on Saturday over non-payment of wages, causing extensive damage and forcing the government. local and central to take steps to restore investor confidence.
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“This is an unfortunate incident, and we are in contact with the company and the Union government and are doing everything possible to help restart the factory within the next 10-15 days,” Hebbar said in an interview on Wednesday.
“About five contractors have not paid workers in the last three months, and this has infuriated the workers. Arrangements such as 8-12 hour shifts, inadequate arrangements for women on night shifts are some of the problems. Wistron is a new company (in Karnataka) and the workers never came to us with these problems before. When incidents like these occur in industries that employ 10,000-20,000 people, the wrong signals are sent. “
Hebbar spoke amid intensive attempts by the state and central government to gather more details about the worker unrest at the plant. Both the central Labor Ministry and the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Domestic Trade (DPIIT) have requested detailed reports on the violence that could dampen investment sentiment and the “Make in India” campaign.
Hebbar’s comments come after two different reports filed by state departments listed labor rights violations, including non-payment of wages, inadequate communication about the repercussions of 12-hour shifts, and non-compliance with statutory provisions of the law.
One of the reports questioned the role of Wistron contractors who are suspected of diverting workers’ wages. This report said that Wistron’s human resources department has not been adequately configured with “staff with a solid understanding of labor laws.”
Non-payment of wages and long working hours weren’t the only reason that triggered the uproar. Hired workers at the Wistron plant said there were cases of assault by company staff, unexplained pay cuts, 50-minute breaks in a 12-hour shift and mistreatment.
Promise to pay an additional ₹300 a day to employees if they give up breaks and additional pay for working during the holiday season is not maintained, the workers and their families said. “We went to the contractor on Saturday who then sent us to the company, and neither of them told us who was responsible for the discrepancies, which fueled the anger,” said a contract worker, requesting anonymity.
Police said the clash between workers turned into violence, arson, mistreatment of other workers and looting of factory machinery, laptops and iPhones.
“Our job is to reassure and play a supporting role in reconstruction, which we are doing,” said Gaurav Gupta, chief secretary of Karnataka’s department of industries.
Meanwhile, Wistron lowered his loss estimate in the incident to ₹43 crore of ₹Rs 437 crore, as its share prices rebounded after a free fall on Tuesday.
Wistron and Apple did not respond to inquiries.
The incident is compared to the violence at the Maruti factory in Manesar in July 2012, when a human resources manager was killed.
Union activists and lawmakers from opposition parties said government authorities often ignore labor rights to stock exchanges. Apple Inc., for whom Wistron produced the iPhone-SE and iPhone-7 at this plant, is investigating whether the contract manufacturer provided safe working conditions and treated workers with dignity, as set out in a supplier code of conduct. .
An independent report from the Central Council of All India Trade Unions has spoken of conditions similar to those of a “clandestine workshop”.
Much of the recruitment of workers is done by word of mouth, and nearby towns have seized the opportunity for their children to take whatever job is available at one of the many factories run by companies like Honda, Mahindra, and Scania in the 700-acre area. Narasapura factory, where the Wistron factory is located / Workers from neighboring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and other regions often cope with pitiful living conditions in one of the villages surrounding the town of Kolar.
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