iPhone 12 Production Halted in India by Protests Over Food Poisoning

[DFZD]

Everyone who thinks this is routine in India, not really, this used to be a thing in the 90s but since then the labour codes have been reformed and this is very uncommon, in fact protests only happen when a government is trying to privatise a corporation they own or control.

Protest in a Private Corporation means you are doing some really shady business. Like the last time apple wasn't clearing the dues of the employees.

 

[Sankew]

It is been suggested to only drink bottle water when travel to India.

well this is just an insensible comment

 

[baryon]

Do they think the food poisoning was on purpose? I've had food poisoning, and never blamed the company serving the food, sometimes **** happens(especially with food poisoning ?). Or was this a clearly preventable thing?

I would guess they are working in bad conditions, corners are constantly being cut, food is constantly bad, and it's been like this for years and now something singular and notable has happened causing the workers to reach a tipping point. As it is usually the case, it's probably not this one thing that people are upset about, but a whole bunch of things that culminated in this.

This is just my guess from my experience working in bad conditions and being treated badly by my employer. Things are bad, you try to do something, nothing happens, someone almost gets hurt, nothing happens, some people quit, nothing happens... then one day someone falls off a ladder, gets hurt, dies, etc... and you know it's not just an unlucky accident, but a thing that was waiting to happen and it was just a matter of time. So now you have something in your hand to protest with, but you're not protesting this one incident, but the whole thing that lead up to it.

 

[JPack]

Do they think the food poisoning was on purpose? I've had food poisoning, and never blamed the company serving the food, sometimes **** happens(especially with food poisoning ?). Or was this a clearly preventable thing?

The difference is, these Indian workers are forced to eat this food. They are not allowed to cook in their dorms and don’t have any other choice. And the cost of these meals are taken out from their paychecks.

If you’re working in rural India where you know hygienic practices aren’t likely followed because many of the food prep workers are uneducated migrant workers. And you don’t have a choice to cook your own food, I think many people would protest.

 

[Rocko99991]

Factories bottled water source.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Uh oh! Not a great feeling to be reminded your iPhone was made in a sweatshop.

Meanwhile Tim Apple keeps printing money.

It's obviously far far from the worlds worst working conditions. The fact that they can go on strike for a week and still have a job at the end of it says that they have quite a bit of power to fight for better conditions.

 

[tongxinshe]

ummm. Did you see Amazon and Xiaomi also use this factory? Almost all manufacturing for all brands is done by separate companies, some in India, some in china, Vietnam, Thailand, of which Apple has somewhat higher standards than others, although hard to control when your manufacturer is an unrelated third party..... In fact Samsung uses its own factories (vertical integration), but their conditions are typical for this industry and not much better. So, if you restate your comment without Apple, or as inclusion of the whole industry, you would be correct. Manufacturing in general is not a high paying job ripe with benefits. in a related matter, just look at how poorly amazon treats its employees, talk about a sweat shop

Not to belittle the problem, but these people deserve better by all industries and all companies

It makes total sense to focus the blame on those with high profit margins. Apple earned this special treatment with its own operating logic.

 

[StoneJack]

The difference is, these Indian workers are forced to eat this food. They are not allowed to cook in their dorms and don’t have any other choice. And the cost of these meals are taken out from their paychecks.

If you’re working in rural India where you know hygienic practices aren’t likely followed because many of the food prep workers are uneducated migrant workers. And you don’t have a choice to cook your own food, I think many people would protest.

I don't get the logic

 

[svish]

Hopefully all the employees are all right and the situation on ground calms down

 

[JPack]

I don't get the logic

It's not something everyone will understand unless they've visited manufacturing sites in Asia and spoken with workers.

 

[digitaldrip]

iPhone 12 production in India has been halted by protests over food poisoning at a Foxconn factory, Reuters reports.

Foxconn's manufacturing plant near Chennai in southern India, which produces iPhone 12 models, is set to remain shut this week after protests by workers. Protestors reportedly blocked a major highway leading to the plant in response to 150 employees being admitted to hospital with food poisoning last week. The incident is said to have inflamed other employee concerns that have since been reported to the state labor ministry.

The temporary closure is expected to have a minimal impact on Apple in the short term, but it could have ramifications for ramping up production going into 2022. The disruption comes amid other supply chain constraints for Apple, which have been expected to worsen during the holiday quarter. The facility also makes Amazon Fire TV sticks and some devices for Xiaomi.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple plans to manufacture iPhone 13 models at the Chennai facility, even though the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 are currently believed to be the best-selling iPhones in India.

Article Link: iPhone 12 Production Halted in India by Protests Over Food Poisoning

A LOT of info has been left “”OUT”” of the is story, per usual.








Most employees have NOT been paid in 2-3 months after working 12 hours a day. They make only $2.63 USD a day on the average, when they are paid.





Prior to the riot, there was a protest about poor working conditions which was ignored by Wistron.








<SLAVE> labor at its finest.

iPhone 12 production in India has been halted by protests over food poisoning at a Foxconn factory, Reuters reports.

Foxconn's manufacturing plant near Chennai in southern India, which produces iPhone 12 models, is set to remain shut this week after protests by workers. Protestors reportedly blocked a major highway leading to the plant in response to 150 employees being admitted to hospital with food poisoning last week. The incident is said to have inflamed other employee concerns that have since been reported to the state labor ministry.

The temporary closure is expected to have a minimal impact on Apple in the short term, but it could have ramifications for ramping up production going into 2022. The disruption comes amid other supply chain constraints for Apple, which have been expected to worsen during the holiday quarter. The facility also makes Amazon Fire TV sticks and some devices for Xiaomi.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple plans to manufacture iPhone 13 models at the Chennai facility, even though the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 are currently believed to be the best-selling iPhones in India.

Article Link: iPhone 12 Production Halted in India by Protests Over Food Poisoning

A LOT of info has been left “”OUT”” of the is story, per usual.





Most employees have NOT been paid in 2-3 months after working 12 hours a day. They make only $2.63 USD a day on the average, when they are paid.




Prior to the riot, there was a protest about poor working conditions which was ignored.





<SLAVE> labor at its finest.

 

[jackietreeh0rn]

The difference is, these Indian workers are forced to eat this food. They are not allowed to cook in their dorms and don’t have any other choice. And the cost of these meals are taken out from their paychecks.

If you’re working in rural India where you know hygienic practices aren’t likely followed because many of the food prep workers are uneducated migrant workers. And you don’t have a choice to cook your own food, I think many people would protest.

you seem to know India inside out, man!

 

[moxin]

What a useless step by Apple to inherit an already poor country to develop iPhone, Apple can do much better than that for sure.

 

[CrapShack]

Uh oh! Not a great feeling to be reminded your iPhone was made in a sweatshop.

Meanwhile Tim Apple keeps printing money.

Sorry for the food poisoning incident, but most actual sweatshops don't offer meals to their employees. Perhaps it's a normal workplace that had an unfortunate outbreak in the cafeteria. So clean it. It's not automatically worker exploitation. I can't believe ANYBODY would be against creating jobs for people... IN INDIA.

 

[Ramchi]

This particular region has elected China - Communist Centric local government (Chief Minister Name is Stalin). They have been blocking all development projects in the last several years, being elected in the State few months back actively bargaining for ransom. Their Stooges and communists are most likely forcibly employed there to create unrest on demand. This is second time in months and in another state leftists union thugs ransacked Apple factory with fire.

In India as they one can get maximum freedom!!

 

[Ramchi]

+1, many people don't realize India have many problems and most are created by the local government or local greed. It's always much easier to blame Apple or Foxconn.

Absolutely, dictatorship, martial law, single party rule communism will be the perfect solution. All Tim Cook needs to do is shake hands with the general......

 

[alex2792]

Tim Cook will provide his slaves with a free pride watch band in eco friendly packaging for their troubles and all will be good again.

 

[MacBH928]

People who complain about working conditions, we are all part of it. If those phones were manufactured in USA and sold for $1500 instead, no one will buy them and will buy the cheaper $1000 phone by the competitor built in China in poor working conditions.

I don't disagree that companies can do a bit more effort to improve the working conditions though.

 

[StoneJack]

Apple has launched independent audit into all of its contract suppliers in India, it seems Indian head of operations was at fault.

Wistron Corp, the Taiwanese assembler of Apple Inc's iPhones, has restructured its internal setup and management ranks in India, two sources said, after an investigation last year into violence at one of its plants. Wistron admitted some workers had not been paid properly or on time, and removed a top executive.
"as part of the shake-up, Sudipto Gupta, the firm's former managing director in India, was moving to a business development role". The firm has curtailed the roles of its India head and operations head, an industry source and a government official told Reuters.

now about 7,000 workers are now assembling iPhones at the plant and shipments have started, one of the sources said.

Wistron shakes up India structure, management after factory troubles: Report

Wistron has curtailed the roles of its India head and operations head, the report says.Wistron's smooth working is key to Apple's ambitions in India as it gradually moves production to markets beyond China, navigating the trade war between Washington and Beijing and the coronavirus pandemic

www.livemint.com

On related note, Apple seems to be increasing its role in India.

The Indian government wants Apple to make 50 billion dollars output in India. NEW DELHI: In one of the most ambitious push to its Make in India programme, the Centre has proposed that American electronics giant Apple generate annual production output worth $50 billion in India over the next 5-6 years and expand its locally-made product kitty beyond iPhones to include Macbooks, iPads, air pods and watch

Government asks Apple to make goods worth $50 billion/year in India - Times of India

India Business News: Top government officials had a high-level meeting with senior functionaries from Apple, where they asked the Tim Cook-led company to develop India as

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[JPack]

For women who assembled iPhones at a Foxconn plant in southern India, crowded dorms without flush toilets and food sometimes crawling with worms were problems to be endured for the paycheck.

But when tainted food sickened over 250 of the workers their anger boiled over, culminating in a rare protest that shut down a plant where 17,000 had been working.

A close look by Reuters at the events before and after the Dec. 17 protest casts a stark light on living and working conditions at Foxconn (2317.TW), a firm central to Apple's (AAPL.O) supply chain.

Insight: Women force change at Indian iPhone plant, sick from bad food, crowded dorms

For women who assembled iPhones at a Foxconn plant in southern India, crowded dorms without flush toilets and food sometimes crawling with worms were problems to be endured for the paycheck.

www.reuters.com

 

[StoneJack]

For women who assembled iPhones at a Foxconn plant in southern India, crowded dorms without flush toilets and food sometimes crawling with worms were problems to be endured for the paycheck.

But when tainted food sickened over 250 of the workers their anger boiled over, culminating in a rare protest that shut down a plant where 17,000 had been working.

A close look by Reuters at the events before and after the Dec. 17 protest casts a stark light on living and working conditions at Foxconn (2317.TW), a firm central to Apple's (AAPL.O) supply chain.

Insight: Women force change at Indian iPhone plant, sick from bad food, crowded dorms

For women who assembled iPhones at a Foxconn plant in southern India, crowded dorms without flush toilets and food sometimes crawling with worms were problems to be endured for the paycheck.

www.reuters.com

Yes, that plant is now put on probation as well. Let's hope the conditions improve at those plants.