Indian Workers Ransack Wistron iPhone Production Plant Over Unpaid Wages

[MacRumors]

Workers reportedly went on the rampage at an iPhone production plant in India on Sunday and caused widespread damage to the Wistron-run factory over claims of unpaid wages.

Video posted on social media showed smashed CCTV cameras and glass panels, broken lights and upturned vehicles at Wistron's manufacturing facility in Bangalore. According to the Times of India, many of the 2,000 employees leaving at the end of their Friday-night shift were involved in the violence.

Disgruntled staff claimed that they have not been fully paid for four months and are being forced to do extra shifts. One worker alleged an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 ($285) per month, but instead they initially got Rs 16,000 ($217), which had been reduced down to Rs 12,000 ($163) in the last three months. Non-engineering graduates' monthly salary was said to have been reduced to Rs 8,000 ($108).

According to a worker who spoke to the Times, employees had started discussing their salaries and some alleged that they had received as low as Rs 500 ($7) in their bank accounts. The anger had turned into violence by the time the shift ended.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1337766741854748673

According to BBC News, Apple partner Wistron told AFP news agency that "the incident was caused by people of unknown identities from outside who intruded into and damaged its facility with unclear intentions."

Wistron employs about 15,000 workers at the factory, according to local media, with most contracted via recruitment firms. Indian police reportedly arrested over 100 staff as a result of the rampage. Wistron said it would resume operations as soon as possible.

Bangalore is the capital of southern Karnataka state and is India's technology hub.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Indian Workers Ransack Wistron iPhone Production Plant Over Unpaid Wages

 

[LeeW]

Paid as low as $7? I mean I know money has a different value in parts of the world but cmon..

 

[NightFox]

I wonder what the real price of the iPhone would be if someone, somewhere down the production or supply chain wasn't being exploited?

 

[d5aqoëp]

Many versions are floating around

• Wistron did not pay wages to workers
• Wistron paid the money to their contractors but contractors did not pay their workers
• China sponsored this vandalism using some goons and actual workers were not involved in damage to property. China does not want India to take away their business.
• Wistron is exaggerating damages to make insurance company cough up more money.

So which one is it?

 

[noone]

I wonder what the real price of the iPhone would be if someone, somewhere down the production or supply chain wasn't being exploited?

Being paid a (comparatively) low wage isn’t necessarily exploitation. Their compensation is probably fair to above average for that part of the world. The fact that they haven’t been paid however...that’s a problem.

Many versions are floating around

• Wistron did not pay wages to workers
• Wistron paid the money to their contractors but contractors did not pay their workers
• China sponsored this vandalism using some goons and actual workers were not involved in damage to property. China does not want India to take away their business.

So which one is it?

Each one is entirely believable tbh.

 

[ian87w]

Regardless of the reason, this is one of the risks of manufacturing in India. Go ask the Japanese automobile companies (eg. Suzuki).

And not surprising if the issues are from the Taiwanese company itself. Some Taiwanese companies/executives are simply jerks.

 

[chineseguy38]

We should stop buying Apple products!

 

[gnasher729]

Since this is called an "iPhone plant", I'd like to know what percentage of workers are producing iPhones - some time ago there was a report of workers at an "iPhone plant" in China threatened with suicides because Xbox production was reduced, so nothing to do with Apple.

And second, since not paying employee's wages is really egregious, it would be nice of Apple to put something into the contract with the manufacturers: If workers producing iPhones don't get paid, Apple will pay them and subtract the money from the manufacturer's bill.

 

[Schizoid]

Wouldn’t it be better to just down tools rather than destroy them?

 

[travelsheep]

Wasn't my (or your) fault, I paid a whopping US$ 1082 for my new iPhone 12 128GB. Seems to be a problem of how they share our money.

 

[Packers1958]

I get that way if I dont have my morning coffee.

 

[goobot]

If true then good.

 

[laptech]

It does not surprise me that such a thing happened. Corruption of upper management within Indian companies is rife. Such a similar thing has been happening within India's very profitible garment industry for years. Indian management find ways to cut corners so that they can keep a large part of the money for themselves and hide what is going on from their bosses (Western companies who give them the contracts).

Just look what Chinese management do. When the official manufacturing hours are finished, they force their workers to carry on working so they can carry on producing without their bosses knowing (Western companies) and then sell what they made on the black market with all the money being pocketed by the Chinese bosses.

 

[ghanwani]

Many versions are floating around

• Wistron did not pay wages to workers
• Wistron paid the money to their contractors but contractors did not pay their workers
• China sponsored this vandalism using some goons and actual workers were not involved in damage to property. China does not want India to take away their business.
• Wistron is exaggerating damages to make insurance company cough up more money.

So which one is it?

Just like in the Life of Pi, it is the one that you want to believe. None of us can never know what really happened.

 

[d5aqoëp]

Regardless of the reason, this is one of the risks of manufacturing in India. Go ask the Japanese automobile companies (eg. Suzuki).

And not surprising if the issues are from the Taiwanese company itself. Some Taiwanese companies/executives are simply jerks.

Apparently, Maruti-Suzuki is one of THE BEST car manufacturers in India with huge amount of cars sold.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Many versions are floating around

• Wistron did not pay wages to workers
• Wistron paid the money to their contractors but contractors did not pay their workers
• China sponsored this vandalism using some goons and actual workers were not involved in damage to property. China does not want India to take away their business.
• Wistron is exaggerating damages to make insurance company cough up more money.

So which one is it?

Number 2 is probably most likely. Incidents like these are common in parts of the developing world where a middleman pockets the money. 1 is highly unlikely because of the kind of bad press it would generate for Apple and would probably lead to Apple dropping Winstron as a supplier. 3 is possible but not likely. iPhone manufacturing is not an essential Chinese industry and many Chinese OEMs already have plants in India. No proof of 4 but can’t say one way or the other.

 

[aknabi]

First I'd say of course claims need to be verified...

Now, if they turn out to be correct, Apple being an example of what a global corporation should be (at least that's what they want to project) and the fact they carry more weight than most governments, I'd say to correct response would be to insist Wistron pay the back salaries, plus 200% punitive damages compensation (as a low percentage would not dissuade this behavior)... or else they'll go to another partner (or help set a new one up and take the hit in the name of corporate responsibility, since they went with a shady vendor and that's a bit on them).

Again, assuming the claims as stated are verified.

 

[locrumo]

Another bite from the apple.

 

[ksec]

Many versions are floating around

• Wistron did not pay wages to workers
• Wistron paid the money to their contractors but contractors did not pay their workers
• China sponsored this vandalism using some goons and actual workers were not involved in damage to property. China does not want India to take away their business.
• Wistron is exaggerating damages to make insurance company cough up more money.

So which one is it?

I am betting it is number 2. Those wages number in the article doesn't even make sense.

 

[otternonsense]

Curious to see Tim Cook virtue signal his way out of this.

 

[reyesmac]

America went through labor disputes too until something was done about it. Maybe if more companies are held accountable for ripping off their workers they will settle on paying what they promised. But it looks like over there they resort to mob justice more often because the government is not backing them on such things. This is not a problem that will go away in a short time. But hopefully one that will. be addressed and corrected eventually.

 

[pankajdoharey]

I think i misread it, perhaps there is some truth to it.

 

[agsystems]

Paid as low as $7? I mean I know money has a different value in parts of the world but cmon..

that's your answer - in my country a 'great' salary would be around $445 dollars a month - of note - most people own their homes and utilities (with horrible service) are reasonable - we all have heard of folks earning 125k in San Francisco that can barely they save $100-300 a month so all its relative

 

[jlseattle]

Sounds like apple needs to fire that factory. If the owners are shady to employees apple should withdraw contract

 

[agsystems]

Number 2 is probably most likely. Incidents like these are common in parts of the developing world where a middleman pockets the money. 1 is highly unlikely because of the kind of bad press it would generate for Apple and would probably lead to Apple dropping Winstron as a supplier. 3 is possible but not likely. iPhone manufacturing is not an essential Chinese industry and many Chinese OEMs already have plants in India. No proof of 4 but can’t say one way or the other.

hardly a new thing - case in point - my uncle works for an agency which has a contract with a plastic warehouse- the agency gets $12.50 per hour - my uncle get $10.00 (minimum wage in NJ, USA)