A labor bureau’s preliminary investigation into violence last weekend at a factory run by Apple supplier Wistron found several violations by the Taiwanese firm and its suppliers, according to its report reviewed by Reuters.
Angry workers complaining about unpaid wages for months smashed computers and iPhone models on Saturday at the Wistron plant, about 50 km from the technology downtown Bengaluru, costing the company millions of dollars in damages and forcing it to shut down the site.
An audit of the factory, hours after the uproar, found “various violations of labor law,” the labor department of the Kolar district of Karnataka state, where the factory is located, said in its report.
Wistron, one of Apple’s leading global contract manufacturers, did not respond to a request for comment on the report, which has not been released.
Apple, which is conducting its own audit to determine whether Wistron violated vendor guidelines, also did not respond to a request for comment.
The labor office said Wistron failed to maintain proper employment and appointment details for its workers, and staff working 12-hour shifts at the Kolar plant were not paid overtime.
The company did not maintain salary and attendance records as required by law, and contract staff were unhappy with the non-payment of wages for additional hours of work, the bureau said, adding that Wistron did not submit these records upon request.
The report also named three of Wistron’s labor providers, Ingenieros Creativos, Quess and Addeco India, for exceeding the hiring quotas allowed by government rules.
Quess and Addeco did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and creative engineers could not be reached.
The inspection also found that a failure in an assistive machine or software had led to complaints from workers for not receiving the full salary they were owed.
“This was brought to the attention of management and was not addressed,” the office said.
The investigation, though initial, confirmed complaints from plant workers, half a dozen of whom were interviewed by Reuters.
The auditors asked Wistron to submit some documents to the labor office within three days. It was unclear if Wistron complied with the request.
The Karnataka state government said this week it would help Wistron restart operations and address workers’ concerns.
Nor did he comment on the report’s findings.
However, the unions have criticized the state for “being soft” with the company and not empathizing with the staff working in “exploitative conditions.”
The episode is a blow to Wistron’s local manufacturing momentum and affects Apple’s reputation in a key growing market.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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