Worker turn violent over non payment of salary at Wistron's campus

The workers at Wistron Corp production facility near Bengaluru that makes iPhones in India allegedly damaged property demanding salary payments from the company. Wistron has a manufacturing plant at Narasapura in Kolar district, about 52km from Bengaluru, in Karnataka.

“There is some unrest over salary payments and workers have resorted to stone-pelting," according to a police official from the district.

Social media was flooded with videos of the incident in which a mob can be seen pelting stones, breaking windows and doors inside what appears to be the office, overturning and setting fire to vehicles in the parking lot while shouting profanities.

Calls to officials of the Taiwanese company went unanswered.

Police and other security personnel have rushed to the spot to control the situation, the official cited above said.

The unrest at Wistron comes at a time when a few other companies operating out of Karnataka have faced similar trouble with workers.

The deadlock between workers and management of car-maker Toyota Kirloskar Motors Pvt. Ltd (TKM) has been on for over a month now, with both sides refusing to budge from their positions.

TKM had gone into a lockdown on 10 November after production line staff protested against the suspension of one of the office bearers of the workers union.

Despite the intervention of the Karnataka government that asked the company to resume operations and the workers to call off its strike, TKM continues to work with 5% staff strength as most workers are yet to report to work.

The company had gone into lockdown four days after it restarted operations, citing ‘volatile conditions’ prevalent on the premises.

The company has since started taking undertakings from workers to allow them back into the factory floor, a move that has added to the simmering tensions between both sides.