Hundreds of workers have been arrested or detained by the police for the Wistron violence
Bangalore / New Delhi:
A major union on Thursday criticized the Karnataka government for failing to crack down on iPhone assembler Wistron, accusing it of targeting the company’s contract workers after a protest over the payment of wages turned violent.
Saturday’s protest over months of alleged underpayment of dues at a Wistron Corp assembly plant in the southern state spiraled out of control after police were summoned.
The Taiwanese company, one of Apple Inc.’s leading global suppliers, in a police complaint said that more than 5,000 of its contract workers had destroyed property and equipment, causing damage estimated at $ 60 million.
He later told the Taiwan Stock Exchange that the damages, which forced him to close the factory, were worth up to $ 7 million.
Hundreds of workers have been arrested or detained by the police and the Karnataka government has condemned the violence, promising to take the “strictest measures” against the wrongdoers.
The state has said it welcomes foreign investment and has called Wistron a “standard bearer” for India’s electronics manufacturing ambitions. He has vowed to help the company restart operations and said he will seek to address worker complaints.
“The state government is extremely soft on the company and turns a blind eye to all violations at the facilities,” Clifton D’Rozario, national secretary of the Central Council of Trade Unions of India (AICCTU), told a news conference. .
Accusing the government of only caring about foreign investment, he said the workers had not been paid properly for four months and that officials did not appear to question this.
“They are creating jobs that do not pay people. What is that job for?” D’Rozario said.
Wistron and the Karnataka government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Apple, which has said it is investigating whether Wistron violated its supplier guidelines, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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