Violence at iPhone Plant: Apple Puts Wistron On Probation

After violence broke out in an iPhone manufacturing plant in Narasapura facility near Bangalore, operated by Taiwan-based tech giant Wistron Corporation, Apple has taken the issue seriously.

The violence is caused due to the protests of its employees over non-payment of salaries on time. The angried employees had ransacked the iPhone manufacturing plant. On Dec 12th, about 2000 of Wistron Corporation workers, who were leaving from their night-shift, went on a rampage destroying company’s furniture.

Apple has announced that it has put its supplier Wistron on probation.In a statement it said that it has hired independent auditors along with its own Apple employees to investigate the issue.

“Apple employees, along with independent auditors, will monitor their (Wistron) progress. Our main objective is to make sure all workers are treated with dignity & respect, & fully compensated promptly,” said Apple.

“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,” the statement added.

With this move, Wistron will not receive new business till new and corrective measures are implemented. Wistron apologized for the incident and said it regretted the incident.

Meanwhile, Wistron has removed its Vice President who oversees its business in India. It said it is restructuring its teams and enhancing its internal processes following the violence.

“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 said.

“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 added.