iPhone factory workers riot over unpaid wages in India
- Reference: 1607931248
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/12/14/india_iphone_factory_riot/
- Source link:
Local media report that around 2,000 staff protested at not having been properly paid for months, and that iPhones may have been looted and the factory damaged.
The factory only opened in August 2020 and is thought to assemble the iPhone SE and iPhone 12, mostly for export consumption as Apple’s highly-priced products have tiny market share in India.
Apple outsources Indian iPhone assembly to Taiwanese company Wistron, which in turn outsourced recruitment and payroll to Indian companies. The India companies stand accused of not paying staff promptly or properly for several months. Wistron’s plant is near the city of Bengaluru, a tech hub in which the cost of living is high by Indian standards.
[1]Youtube Video
Over 100 arrests have reportedly been made.
Some Indian politicians are sympathetic with under-paid workers, but also condemned violence.
iPhone manufacturing unit vandalized near Bengaluru. Employees went on a rampage at Wistron Corporation's factory in Narsapura. They allege their salaries haven't been paid properly. [2]pic.twitter.com/K2VQr5xU6I — Harish Upadhya (@harishupadhya) [3]December 12, 2020
Others have pointed out that India is currently offering substantial subsidies to attract facilities just like smartphone assembly plants, so riots and destruction aren’t exactly the best argument for further inbound investments.
Others suggest that Wistron and Apple simply picked the wrong location to run the plant.
One suggested destination The Register encountered was Noida, the manufacturing hub to the East of New Delhi that already houses the world’s largest smartphone-making plant. The Samsung facility can crank out 120 million units a year at top speed
Samsung also operates a mobile OLED factory in Noida and the state government of Uttar Pradesh last week agreed to subsidise expansion of that plant. The deal appears to be contingent on Samsung closing a plant in China and moving its workload to Noida.
The deal is therefore very welcome in India, given that it is currently beefing with China over borders, security, apps, and trade. ®
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[1] https://youtu.be/DgzOFaGcimQ
[2] https://t.co/K2VQr5xU6I
[3] https://twitter.com/harishupadhya/status/1337650711627120640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: so riots and destruction aren’t exactly the best argument
I would like to understand why the wages have gone unpaid. Not that violence is the answer, but FFS paying your staff is the least you could do.
There is a long history in Britain of rioting workers. Bristol is famous for it. It only stopped when we had strong trade unions.
"It only stopped when we had strong trade unions."
"It only stopped when we had was made an order of magnitude worse by strong trade unions."
FTFY.
Interesting deconstructing the responsibility chain here.
1. Wistron are an Apple contract supplier so presumably there are SLAs in place governing acceptable supplier conduct.
2. Wistron themselves are claiming this was as a result of incorrect expectations setting by a 3rd party hiring/recruitment vendor.
3. 3rd party recruiter is claiming Wistron weren't clear when setting salary frameworks for new positions (per Indiatimes)
Wistron are growing exponentially at the moment, and reading some of the articles in Indiatimes and others it sounds like the 3rd party recruiter made offers to new staff ($285/month) which turned out to be a 'signing bonus' rather than repeating salary; actual salary was anywhere between $163 and $217 per month. New personnel clearly weren't happy with this.
As of December 2020 Apple has a market cap of $2.081 T
actual salary was anywhere between $163 and $217 per month.
So If the workers stop eating, live in the street and don't become sick, they'll be able to buy one iPhone 12 every 6 months.
Re: As of December 2020 Apple has a market cap of $2.081 T
There's a very good reason why Apple's market share is tiny in India...
Re: Apples and Oranges
iPhones are inedible and provide lousy shelter.
When I worked in China the idiot tourist rate for a small but clean hotel room was under £1/day. Good food public transport also cost a pittance. That $200/month may well be enough for a local to live, eat and attend evening classes to get a qualification for a better job (the hours may well be so horrendous that you would have to save up and stop work to get some education).
Someone deserves some consequences for deliberately or accidently failing to accurately communicate the salary but for people who live thousands of miles away it is not clear whether the contract manufacturer rips off its employees more than Apple overcharges it customers.
well on a positive note at least you can riot in India.. In China, I suppose protesting employees will be executed or be expected to commit suicide if they are unhappy with their "employment" terms.
Barf
Why don't you take a look at the "infamous" Huawei and see how they organize, before you make comments like that? ;-P
so riots and destruction aren’t exactly the best argument
Neither is not paying your workers.