People exit from the gate of Wistron, a Taiwanese-run iPhone factory at Narsapura, about 60 km from Bangalore on December 13, 2020. Image: MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images
Protests erupted over the weekend at an iPhone manufacturing plant near Bengaluru, India. Contract workers, after working for more than two months without pay, took to the factory’s buildings and started breaking windows, office property, and manufacturing equipment. Violence against protesters occurred as police arrived on the scene. According to the All India IT & ITES Employees’ Union (AIIIEU), around 60-70 workers were apprehended, badly beaten, and then arrested amidst the protests. That number increased, according to Business Today India, as 128 individuals were arrested as of Sunday in relation to the protests. The plant, a 43-acre hub for iPhone manufacturing, specifically iPhone SE models, is owned by the Taiwan-based tech behemoth Wistron Corporation.
The plant’s original goal was to employ 10,000 regular workers in the area, however, employment currently sits at 90 percent, all of which are contracted employees—meaning more than 8,000 individuals are affected by the recent agreement changes, AIIITEU said. Neither Wistron Corporation nor Apple responded to a request for comment.
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“These actions by the Wistron management which were not just infuriating for the employees but illegal as per the labour laws ultimately resulted in an unorganised violent retaliation by the employees,” the tech union said in a statement. “The destruction of property by the employees was triggered by the illegal practices of the Wistron management and lack of a formal union of the workers to form an organised resistance against the company.”According to AIIIEU, contract workers at the plant had their expected hours of work raised from eight to 12 hours per day. This came with a 25 percent pay decrease and still, according to a press release, workers have failed to receive payments for more than eight weeks. In addition, prior to this weekend’s protest, employees were fired for voicing salary concerns to upper management, the AIIEU said. These cuts come as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, The India Express says, as the Taiwan-based corporation decided to cut back on wages to mitigate further financial losses. The employees were promised less than 12,000 Indian Rupees per month, which is less than $200. According to The Times of India, some of these employees were college graduates and some were non-degree holders. The unrest early Saturday morning was comprised of approximately 2,000 workers who had just finished a night shift. After rushing the manufacturing campus, according to The Times of India, police arrived from surrounding areas, in addition to local units, and violence was heightened.
The plant’s original goal was to employ 10,000 regular workers in the area, however, employment currently sits at 90 percent, all of which are contracted employees—meaning more than 8,000 individuals are affected by the recent agreement changes, AIIITEU said. Neither Wistron Corporation nor Apple responded to a request for comment.