Scathing report reveals 'serious violations' of labor law in Wistron iPhone factory

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What you need to know

  • A new report says "serious violations" of labor law have been uncovered at a Wistron iPhone factory in India.
  • The Factory was the scene of a riot last week over allegations of unpaid wages.
  • A trade union body in the country has previously stated that authorities turned a blind eye to "all violations."

A new report says "serious violations of labor laws" have been uncovered at a Wistron iPhone plant where a riot broke out last week.

From the South China Morning Post:

Serious violations of labour laws were taking place at the iPhone manufacturing facility in India where a workers' protest on Saturday turned violent and caused US$7 million worth of damage, a report by the Karnataka state government has found. Exploitative practices such as underpayment of wages, irregular hours and poor working conditions were common at the Wistron Corporation assembling and manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, as detailed by its Department of Factories, Boilers, Industrial Safety and Health. This Week in Asia has seen a copy of the report, an internal document detailing preliminary investigations into the incident from the department, which is tasked with enforcing labour-related legislation to ensure workers' safety.

The report follows earlier reports this morning claiming a massive hiring spree may have caused unrest that sparked the riot, as the Wistron only had three HR staff to deal with an influx of thousands of employees. This new report seems to confirm this sentiment.

The report says that Wistron's HR department had "poor knowledge of labor regulations" and "not enough personnel" to manage 10,500 employees including 8,500 contractors. A source told the outlet:

"It is fairly a new establishment which became operational only in September and because of that, the system may not be fully in place... But neither the management nor the workmen have ever approached the labour department before this issue … they could have taken guidance [before the crisis]."

A riot broke out at the factory Friday over reports workers had not been paid.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9