Six staffing companies that supplied labor to the unrest-affected iPhone factory near Bengaluru could face heavy fines and could be blacklisted for failing to pay workers’ wages, two government officials said.
Officials said the violence at the Wistron factory was not planned in advance. “It was a sudden outburst,” said one of the two government officials with direct knowledge of the development, seeking anonymity. “There are about 8,500 temporary workers in the Karnataka factory. The labor was supplied by five or six personnel companies, and it was their fault to exploit the workers by not paying or failing to pay their wages.”
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The government’s course of action aims to control the damage done to the country’s reputation as an investment destination and quell growing unrest in industrial centers as state governments relax laws to allow more work hours and fewer profits for workers to attract investment and help companies recover. of the pandemic.
While the workers should not have engaged in vandalism, labor providers will face action for violating the rules and withholding salary quotas, the official said, without naming the companies.
Taiwan’s Wistron has been making iPhones in India since 2017 as the country struggles to attract foreign investment in electronics manufacturing. The assembly of iPhones in India by Apple has been one of the great success stories of the government.
“The Union Ministry of Labor is in contact with the state government and is monitoring the situation. The labor providers seem to be to blame. We are assessing the situation and appropriate action will be taken, “said DPS Negi, chief labor commissioner (central) and chief labor and employment advisor to the ministry.
Negi said that any attempt to impact investor sentiment is not acceptable, and neither is any violation of laws or non-payment of wages and overtime to workers.
“We do not believe that violence is useful to anyone and, at the same time, we have taken measures so that workers can receive their quotas soon,” Negi added.
The violence appears to have been sparked by the failures of companies that supply contract workers, said KR Shyam Sundar, a labor economist and professor at XLRI.
“This Wistron case is both an industrial relationship and a human resource crisis. The salaries of the contract workers were not settled and I don’t think there is a liquidity problem with the multinational company, which is making high-end phones from a reputable mobile phone brand, “Sundar said.
“The authorities, both in the state and in the Center, seem to have approached the investor, the main firm. It’s a good move, and now they must also go out and name the wrongdoers and take action against those who violated the laws related to the welfare of workers and the payment of wages. The communication channel with the workers seems to be lacking. Look, you’ve kept wages high, there’s violence, loot, and loss of property. If the part of the salary, especially in the middle of the covid, had been resolved, it would not have arisen. There are mismatches between aspirations and reality; the employer is suffering, the employees are also suffering and production has suffered. This should function as a case study for implementing labor reforms balancing benefits for workers and employers, “he added.
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