Workers at an iPhone manufacturing plant in India have lost as much as નુકસાન 7 million due to protests, according to a Reuters report. Workers at a plant owned by Taiwan-based company Wistron say they have not been paid what they were promised and are demanding better conditions.
The Times of India has several on-ground reports and dramatic videos of the protests. The news outlet reports that “about 2,000 employees, who left the facility after completing their night-shift, destroyed the company’s furniture, assembly units and even attempted to set fire to vehicles.”
The Times of India also reported that workers were being paid, citing an employee who was quoted as saying, “When an engineering graduate was promised Rs. (8 218) and then, in recent months, to Rs. 12,000 ($ 163). The monthly salary of non-engineering graduates was reduced to Rs. 8,000 (10 109). It was frustrating to see this. ” Some workers claim to have received a monthly salary of Rs.500 (6.80).
Wistron is one of Apple Pal’s top suppliers, and Apple Pal says it is investigating the company to see if Winstron violates Apple Pal’s supplier guidelines.
India is the world’s second largest smartphone market after China, but India is a highly competitive, price-conscious market in which Apple has struggled, capturing only one percent of the market. One way to reduce Apple’s price in India is to make phones locally, which could dip into Indian import fees, especially on goods made in China. The Wistron plant, naturally, makes Apple’s cheapest phone, the iPhone SE.
