A Wistron Corp (緯創) plant in India is set to restart operations, after a riot broke out at the production base spurred by a labor dispute in December last year, Indian media reported on Tuesday.
Citing Wistron Smart Devices chief executive officer David Shen (沈慶堯), the Times of India said that the company has taken steps to improve standards at its Narasapura factory in Karnataka state, and would resume operations soon.
On Dec. 12, a protest by about 2,000 workers turned violent. Employees at the factory, which assembles iPhones for Apple Inc, said that they had not been paid the wages agreed upon when they were hired.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Some protesters attempted to set fire to vehicles, Indian media reported.
The riot led to a production stoppage, causing losses of NT$100 million to NT$200 million (US$3.52 million to US$7.04 million), the company said.
Reuters at the time said that Wistron failed to maintain proper employment records of their workers, who worked 12-hour shifts at the Narasapura plant and were not paid for overtime.
An investigation report obtained by Reuters also said that three of Wistron’s human resources providers — Creative Engineers, Quess Corp and Addeco India — had contravened labor regulations.
However, the Times of India quoted Shen as saying: “All employees have been promptly and fully paid and we have implemented new hiring and payroll systems to ensure that everyone is paid correctly and provided with the correct documentation.”
“We will be delivering enhanced training programs for all workers and have put in place a new system for workers to get information and raise any concerns they might have,” Shen said, adding that the firm would accept anonymous complaints.
“We are looking forward to restarting our operations and welcoming back team members, and we thank them for their patience and support as we work through corrective actions,” he added.
Wistron employs 12,000 workers at the Narasapura factory.
Apple teams and independent auditors have over the past eight weeks been working with Wistron to implement improved processes, the Cupertino-based firm said in an e-mailed statement, adding that the Taiwanese contractor would continue to face scrutiny.
“A comprehensive set of corrective actions has now been completed and Wistron has restructured their recruiting team and enhanced training and support for workers,” Apple said. “Wistron remains on probation and we will monitor their progress closely.”
All workers at the facility would undergo a training program to ensure that they understand their rights and how to raise concerns, Apple said.
Apple representatives would remain on site to monitor new processes, it added.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS