A week after the violence erupted in Karnataka’s Narasapura area, the iPhone manufacturing unit of Taiwan-based Wistron Corp had admitted that some workers ‘were not paid correctly or on time.’ The firm on Sunday, December 20, removed its top executive who oversaw operations in India.
Issuing an apology to the workers, the company said it prioritized the wellbeing of its team members and has been one of the core values of the company. Full compensation will be ensured for every worker, the statement by the company read.
‘This is a new facility, and we recognize that we made mistakes as we expanded. Some of the processes we put in place to manage labour agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded. We are taking immediate action to correct this, including disciplinary action. We are removing the Vice President who oversees our business in India,’ the statement further read.
We are removing the Vice President who oversees our business in India. We are also enhancing our processes and restructuring our teams to ensure these issues cannot happen again: iPhone manufacturer Wistron on the December 12 violence at its unit in Kolar, Karnataka https://t.co/2n49iIgyqg
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2020
A separate statement from Apple put out on Saturday, said that the preliminary findings from its probe indicated that there were violations in the code of conduct it prescribes for all of its suppliers. Wistron is one of Apple’s biggest global suppliers.
Our preliminary findings indicate violations of our Supplier Code of Conduct by failing to implement proper working hour management processes. We have placed Wistron on probation & they’ll not receive any new business from Apple before they complete corrective actions: Apple https://t.co/ldVs3rwRSR
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2020
The tech giant said that Wistron would not receive any new business before it completes the corrective actions. ‘Our preliminary findings indicate violations of our Supplier Code of Conduct by failing to implement proper working hour management processes. This led to payment delays for some workers in October and November,’ the statement as quoted.
According to the report, Wistron has also taken disciplinary action and is restructuring their recruitment and payroll teams in Narasapura. For the same, the firm has established an assistance program and a 24-hour grievance hotline in different regional languages.
A government inspection in the case revealed that the company could not cope up with the rapid scaling up of manpower and breached many laws, Reuters reported. The number of workers rose from permitted 5,000 to over 10,000 within months.
Breaches by the company also included underpayment of wages to contract workers, poor attendance record systems, housekeeping staff and doing female staff work overtime without any legal authorization.
