Earlier this year, it was reported in August 2020 that Wistron Corp would be the company that would be manufacturing the new iPhone 12 in Karnataka.
Just a few months later, protests from workers have begun to emerge in Narsapura, Karnataka at the iPhone plant due to employees at the plant not being paid suitably, according to Times of India Bengaluru.
Karnataka: #Violence at iPhone production plant run by Taiwan-based #Wistron Corp at Narasapura (in Kolar district) near #Bengaluru.
Employees allege they have not been paid properly. pic.twitter.com/GKbeFeyRKc
— TOI Bengaluru (@TOIBengaluru) December 12, 2020
The footage above shows employees at the plant causing damage and destruction within the plant, specifically, broken glass, turned over vehicles and damaged equipment all throughout the building.
Other videos of the protests can be seen below from Twitter:
#Violence at #iPhone production plant run by #Taiwan-based #Wistron Corp at Narasapura (in Kolar district) near #Bengaluru. Employees allege they have not been paid properly. #India #Karnataka@TOIBengaluru @WFRising @tinucherian @anshul_dhamija @madhavchanchani @thimmayap pic.twitter.com/cwy99G5ACZ
— Rakesh Prakash (@rakeshprakash1) December 12, 2020
#Violence @ #Wistron Corp’s #iphone production plant at Narasapura near #Bengaluru in #Karnataka. #India. Employees go on a rampage over wages. @TOIBengaluru @sujitjohn @PhadnisShilpa @drinkcircle @WFRising @ShyamSPrasad @surnell @tim_cook pic.twitter.com/4oaIhyACh2
— Rakesh Prakash (@rakeshprakash1) December 12, 2020
This is the only protest we have seen so far from employees at the Wistron iPhone plant.
UPDATE (12/12/2020): We now have more information regarding these protests.
Workers have not been paid for several weeks, according to a source with the Deccan Herald.
“The issue has been festering for about 8 to 10 weeks, during which employees were subject to arbitrary changes to their work contracts. About 90 per cent of the 8,000-strong workforce are contractual workers with a promised salary of Rs 16,000 per month for an 8-hour work shift. But over the last few months many were being paid only Rs 12,000 and were also told to work for up to 12 hours a day,” the source said.
Employees who have complained to management about the lack of payment have been “arbitrarily fired.”
M D Harigovind, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, said what Wistron is doing to its workers is just flat out wrong.
“The industrial violence in Wistron is a direct result of the brutal exploitation of workers and sweatshop-like conditions created by a company, manufacturing the most expensive mobile phones,” he said. “The state government has allowed the company to flout the basic rights of the workers like payment of wages and working hours. In the absence of any regulation, anarchy has prevailed.”
Let us know your thoughts about this on our Twitter at @appleosophy.
