Wistron plant violence: Apple iPhone-maker to remove its India vice president

Policemen stand guard outside a facility run by Wistron Corp, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Apple, in Narsapura near Bengaluru, India, December 14, 2020. (Image: Reuters)

Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron said it is removing the vice president who oversees its India activities following violence at its Kolar unit in Karnataka, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Vincent Lee is vice president of Wistron in India. The plant manufactures Apple iPhones. The decision comes a week after violence erupted at the iPhone manufacturers’ Kolar plant.

In a statement issued on December 19 the company said team members’ “safety and well wellbeing is always top priority.”

It added: “Since the unfortunate events at our Narasapura facility we have been investigating and have found that some workers were not paid correctly, or on time. We deeply regret this and apologize to all of our workers.”

“This is a new facility and we recognize that we made mistakes as we expanded. Some of the processes we put in place to manage labour agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded.  We are taking immediate action to correct this, including disciplinary action,” it added.

To this end, the company announced it is removing the Vice President who oversees the India business and is also “enhancing processes and restructuring teams” to ensure the issue is not repeated.

“Our top priority is to ensure all workers are fully compensated immediately and we are working hard to achieve that.  We have established an employee assistance program for workers at the facility. We also set up a 24-hour grievance hotline in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English to ensure all workers can voice any concerns they may have anonymously,” the statement said.

The company reiterated that it is “deeply committed” to the India business and its employees.  “We are working diligently on corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again,” it added.

Upon investigation, the Karnataka state labour department found labour law violations at the plant and the government has asked Wistron and its labour contracting firms to answer on lapses, CNBC-TV18 further reported.

The violence occurred on December 12, when employees demanding proper wages became aggressive. As per IGP Central Seemanta Kumar, 80 people were arrested in relation to the incident on the day of violence.

Post that, production was disrupted at the facility, which is situated in Kolar district and manufactures iPhones. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in connection with the incident, booking 7,000 people, including 5,000 contract workers.

Wistron had written to the Karnataka government and said it was "deeply distressed" by the recent incident at its plant near Bengaluru but remains 'committed' to India.