On December 12, the iPhone manufacturing plant run by a Taiwanese company, Wistron Corp, at Karnataka’s Kolar district was attacked by employees aggrieved over alleged non-payment of salaries and overworking for months.
The unit, located at Narasapura Industrial Area of the Kolar saw thousands of workers in the early hours of the day, ransacking the office and laying siege to the building. They pelted stones at the building and set two company vehicles on fire.
The police presence during the incident resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.
Protests by workers at an Industrial unit named Wistron turned violent in kolar earlier today. Over a thousand workers who gathered to protest against alleged salary dues/under payments resorted to violence & vandalism. Cops have brought the situation under control. pic.twitter.com/e0EkgKSJfu
— Deepak Bopanna (@dpkBopanna) December 12, 2020
What Workers Had To Say
The workers protested against the management for not paying wages to most employees for months, making them work overtime, and violating the norms of the Factories Act.
The employees said there were discrepancies in the promised salary and the given one. The engineering graduates working at Wistron were promised a monthly paycheck of ₹21,000, but the firm didn’t honour the promise, not once but twice.
The company initially paid ₹16,000, from which they deducted ₹4000 and the employees received only ₹12,000. It was worse for non-engineering graduates and the housekeeping staff. In addition, they were forced to work overtime, replacing the regular 8-hours shift to 12-hours shift.
Besides, the company hired over 10,000 workers on a sub-contractual basis through staffing agencies. There were glitches in the attendance system as well.
The employees had said the issue of non-payment and overtime working has been ongoing for over six months. They had raised their concerns with the management but received no concrete response.
Police Detained Hundreds Of Workers
Over 150 people were detained in connection with the violence and an FIR was registered against 7,000 people, including 5,000 contract workers at Narsapura police station for vandalism and rioting.
The police officers took the help of staffing agencies and line supervisors to identify the workers before making arrests.
On December 17, The Kolar Rural police detained Srikanth, the taluk president of Students’ Federation of India (SFI), in connection with the vandalism. The police said that Srikanth and several SFI activists allegedly entered Wistron’s premises. However, his presence at the factory has not been proven.
Labour Officer Contradicts Employees
Days after the vandalism, Labour Commissioner Akram Pasha said that wages were paid duly to the employees for the earlier months, and there was just a four-day delay for December.
The delay caused was due to a bug in the new software system that the company had recently shifted to in October. Earlier, the company followed the biometric system and wages were paid based on
However, the officer did not respond to the allegations of overtime working and discrepancies in the promised salary.
Responding to the report of increasing the labour strength, Pasha said that it might not be true as the company followed the due process and trained all its labours before employing them.
Clarifications By Wistron
A week after the violence, on December 19, Wistron Corp agreed to lapses in payment of wages. The firm admitted that ‘some workers were not paid correctly, or on time.’ The Apple supplier issued an apology to all its workers and also removed its Vice President who oversaw operations in India.
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
The company has shut down its Narasapura unit following the rampage and restructured their recruitment and payroll teams there. Besides, the firm has established an assistance program and a 24-hour grievance hotline in different regional languages.
Apple Stops Business
Apple, in its separate statement, said that the preliminary findings from its probe indicated violations in the supplier code of conduct that the tech giant prescribed for all of its suppliers. It said the company failed to implement proper working hour management processes.
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. 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 Government InspectionIn its preliminary report, the…
