December 20, 2020 10:56:32 am
Men wearing protective masks walk past the broken windows of a facility run by Wistron Corp, a Taiwanese Apple maker, in Narsapura, near Bangalore, India, on December 14, 2020 (Reuters).
Apple Inc. said it will put a supplier in India on probation after lapses in labor practices led to unrest, and will delay the delivery of new orders to Wistron Corp. until the problems are fixed.
Preliminary investigations showed that the Taiwanese company, Apple’s first supplier to produce iPhones in India, failed to implement proper work-hour management processes, leading to late payments for some workers in October and November, Apple said in a communicated on Saturday.
Earlier this month, Wistron workers at a plant in Narasapura near Bengaluru rioted over unpaid wages, and many were arrested for violence and vandalism. They damaged property and looted thousands of iPhones and laptops, according to local media.
People with knowledge of the matter said Wistron’s rapid recruitment and expansion in India stretched the company’s systems and exhausted the bandwidth of its management team as well as its human resources department.
“Wistron has taken disciplinary action and is restructuring its hiring and payroll teams in Narasapura,” Apple said. “We have put Wistron on probation and they will not receive any new business from Apple before completing corrective actions. Apple employees, along with independent auditors, will monitor its progress. “
Wistron said he removed the vice president overseeing operations in India and started a hotline for workers to voice their concerns anonymously.
“This is a new facility and we recognize that we made mistakes as we expanded,” the Taiwanese company said in a statement on Saturday. “We are deeply committed to our business and our employees in India. We are working diligently on corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again. “
Apple and its suppliers have been criticized in the past for allowing poor working conditions in China. Last month, Apple suspended new business with Wistron’s biggest rival, Pegatron Corp., after discovering labor violations in a student worker program, cracking down to clean up a China-based production chain long accused of labor abuse.
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