Protests erupted last week at the Karnataka iPhone plant in India after it was reported in August 2020 that Wistron Corp would be the company that would be manufacturing the new iPhone 12 in Karnataka, due to this move, employees at the plant not being paid suitably.
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
Apple reacted furiously, criticizing the Taiwanese Wistron Corp and stating that the company is working on giving payment for workers that were ”delayed” and ”not on time” and respecting the worker’s service to the manufacturing of the iPhone 12. Apple also expressed disappointment in Wistron’s actions and announced that an employee assistance program has been made to combat the incident.
Wistron Corp meanwhile, stated that the employees and workers were ”not paid correctly or on time”, and that “Safety & wellbeing of our team members is always our top priority & core value at Wistron. Since unfortunate events at our Narasapura facility we’ve found that some workers were not paid correctly, or on time. We deeply regret & apologize to all of our workers.”
Wistron Corp also stated that they are firing the Vice President of the company who: ”oversees our business in India. We are also enhancing our processes and restructuring our teams to ensure these issues cannot happen again. Our top priority is to ensure all workers are fully compensated immediately & we’re working hard to achieve that. We’ve established an employee assistance program for workers at the facility. We’re working diligently on corrective actions to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” The statement said.
You can read Apple’s full statement on the protests here:
“Apple employees and independent auditors hired by Apple have been working around the clock to investigate the issues which occurred at Wistron’s Narasapura facility. While these investigations are ongoing, 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.  As always, our focus is on making sure everyone in our supply chain is protected and treated with dignity and respect. We are very disappointed and taking immediate steps to address these issues. Wistron has taken disciplinary action and is restructuring their recruitment and payroll teams in Narasapura. They have also set up an employee assistance program and a 24-hour grievance hotline in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and English to ensure all workers at the facility can voice any concerns, anonymously.Â
