Wistron admits mistake, apologises to workers

Bengaluru: A week after several employees resorted to vandalism at Wistron Corp's iPhone facility at Narasapura Industrial Area in Kolar district, 51 kilometres from Bengaluru, the company on Saturday owned up the responsibility for the unrest as the investigation revealed that some workers were not either paid properly, or on time. It offered an apology to workers over non-payment of salaries and announced removal of its India vice-president Vincent Lee following the violence.

According to the statement released by the Taiwan-headquartered Wistron Corporation reads, "This is a new facility and we recognise that we made mistakes as we expanded. Some of the processes we put in place to manage labor agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded and we are taking immediate action to correct this, including disciplinary action."

As a consequent disciplinary action, Vincent Lee, Vice President (innovation business group) of Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing India has been removed following the violence at the plant. "We are removing the Vice President who oversees our business in India. We are also enhancing our processes and restructuring our teams to ensure these issues cannot happen again" statement says.

Meanwhile, It has 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. It is said that the Apple, for whom this factory is producing various parts for iPhones, now placed Wistron on probation and the company will not be receiving any new business from Apple until complete corrective action is taken.

"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 are deeply committed to our business and employees in India. We are working diligently on corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again," Wistron statement added.

The statement from Wistron came a day after Karnataka submitted a report to the Union Labour Department stating that there was a malfunction in the system that records employee attendance and that Wistron had not addressed the issue after installing new systems post March 2020.

The report also noted that the unrest was due to increase in work hours from eight to 12 hours a day, and that the technical malfunction in the attendance system led to wages of workers being deducted even though they came to work.

On the other hand, Apple, who was conducting a parallel enquiry into the violence, stated, "While investigations are ongoing, our preliminary findings indicate violations of our Supplier Code of Conduct by failing to implement proper working hour management processes. This led to payment delays for some workers in October and November."

On December 12, it was alleged that some of the contract workers at Wistron's manufacturing plant in Narasapura went on a rampage damaging equipment, office property and vehicles, causing Rs 25-28 crores in losses to the Taiwanese contract manufacturer and forcing it to shut the plant.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa expressed concerns over the incident and said that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi was worried about the developments and that strict action would be taken against the culprits.