Operations at the facility began amid the pandemic that caused GDP to contract in two consecutive quarters in Asia’s third-largest economy. The International Labor Organization’s Global Wage Report for 2020 estimates that India’s informal economy, which employs the majority of the workforce, would have experienced one of the most drastic jobs and pay cuts during the Covid-19 shutdown. .
To attract investment during the recession, Karnataka teamed up with other states to change labor laws amid protests from unions. That includes extended work hours, from 8 hours a day to 10 hours; and 60 hours per week.
For the families of many contract workers at Wistron, it was the only stable income during the crisis. BloombergQuint’s conversations with local officials and worker families five days after the violence revealed that nearly all agreed to work two 12-hour shifts: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The families, however, alleged that the overtime hours were not recorded and that the employees were not paid. They also cited delays in wages, claiming it was far less than the 22,000 rupees promised a month.
Others, however, suggested that a wage dispute had been brewing for months.
Chethan Kumar V, 20, with a diploma in electricity, joined Wistron seven months ago, according to his sister-in-law Sowmya, who was waiting outside the Police Superintendent’s office. “He told us that they cut his salary every month,” Sowmya said. The police arrested him a day after the violence.
Sowmya with his mother and son outside the Kolar police office. (Source: Ashwini YS for BloombergQuint)
Wistron hired temporary workers like Chethan and Prabhu through six contractors: Creative Engineers, Quess Corp Ltd., Innovsource, Adecco Group, Needs Manpower Support Services, and Randstad. All of them have received notices from the state government to show their hiring and payment records.
The Mint newspaper reported citing unidentified state government officials that the six companies may face penalties and could be blacklisted due to the wage dispute.
However, Guruprasad Srinivasan, COO of Quess Corp., told BloombergQuint ahead of Wistron and Apple’s action that the problem is due to attendance not being recorded and overtime not being paid.
Wistron’s peak production started sometime in September and increased its operations through November, it said. “There was already a substantial delay due to Covid-19 and the company was under pressure. But technology, systems and automation have to be compatible when that increase occurs. “
Wistron’s workforce quadrupled to nearly 10,000 in just a few months.
“There was discontent because the salaries were paid on August 4, September 7, October 10 and November 11. There was a sequence of delays that happened due to the increased load, ”Srinivasan said.
He admitted that contractors were informed of a bug in the assistive software, causing delays, but employees were not “as tolerant.” But it rejected the claim that the workers were not paid for two or three months or were paid below the minimum wage. All employees received offer letters with salary based on qualifications, he said.
“The salaries of 13,000 or 16,000 rupees are calculated on the basis of eight-hour shifts,” Srinivasan said. “If you extrapolate to 12 hours, the amount to pay is 22,000 rupees. That’s where the claim really comes from. “
Munish Kumar, CEO of Innovsource, told BloombergQuint that all standard procedures were followed and wages were paid on time, as promised in the offer letters with no cuts. Adecco said in a statement that it is “committed to defending the rights of our associates to fair compensation and employment benefits.”
However, a preliminary investigation by Karnataka’s factories department found flaws.
Wistron India Managing Director Sudipto Gupta declined to comment. TD Prashanth, an executive of the company, had submitted one of the four FIRs that alleged that 7,000 people, 5,000 contract workers and 2,000 unknown persons, had destroyed the unit causing losses of Rs 437 million. But in an exchange filing in Taiwan later, Wistron pegged the loss at Rs 43 million.
Several workers with their phones turned off could not be located because the police were looking for them. Kolar police detained Srikanth, an activist from the left-wing Student Federation of India, claiming he instigated the violence. Although the police later released him, the SFI, in a Facebook post, called it a “politically motivated charge.” All the prominent unions accused the state of harassing the workers and demanded the withdrawal of the cases.
Meanwhile, Karnataka tries to reassure investors. This is the second recent industrial dispute after a shutdown at Toyota’s Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Unit near Bengaluru.
Prime Minister BS Yediyurappa told reporters on Thursday that Prime Minister Modi is “concerned” by Wistron’s violence and that the state will ensure that such things are not repeated. “We will give our full support to the company.”
The state Labor Minister Shivaram Hebbar said the plant will resume operations in 10-15 days. He told BloombergQuint after Apple and Wistron admitted faults that the unit “will not shut down at any cost.” After a meeting with state and central officials, he said, Wistron assured that the plant will reopen as soon as possible.
A decision on any action against the company will be made after a full report is submitted, he said. And the fate of the arrested workers will be decided later after the police file the report. “Within 2-3 days we will make a decision on hiring the workers.”
Meanwhile, police continue to bring in contract workers for questioning, according to Karthik Reddy, Kolar’s police superintendent. They are reviewing images from 454 cameras and WhatsApp messages that circulated the night before the violence.
However, Sowmya alleged that the police had detained Chethan despite the fact that there were no video footage of his brother-in-law on campus at the time of the violence. He went to find some of his family companions car (Chethan lives with brother and parents) due to a bus strike, he said, adding that he was arrested for the location of his phone. “It is unfair that the police are harassing innocent people.”
Reddy said that not everyone will be arrested, they will be released if there is no evidence. “Since many wore masks, there is confusion about the real culprits.”
Manjula hopes that her nephew is one of those who will be released. “We have told the police that he had nothing to do with the incident. Once he’s gone, I’ll convince him to go back to Bidar. We are better there. “
