Indian labor officials on Monday visited a Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) factory in the country’s south and questioned executives about the company’s hiring practices, an official said, after Reuters reported that the major Apple Inc supplier has been rejecting married women from iPhone assembly jobs.
A five-member team of the federal government’s regional labor department visited the Foxconn factory near Chennai in Tamil Nadu state and spoke to company directors and human resources (HR) officials, regional labor commissioner A. Narasaiah told Reuters by telephone yesterday.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while Apple did not address questions from Reuters about the visit.
Photo: Reuters
The inquiries came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last week asked state officials and the office of the federal government’s Regional Chief Labor Commissioner to provide detailed reports on the matter.
“We are collecting information and have asked the company to submit documents like company policies, recruitment policies,” as well as evidence of compliance with labor laws and information on maternity and retirement benefits, Narasaiah said. “They told us they are not discriminating.”
Narasaiah said that Foxconn told the labor officials the factory employs 41,281 people, including 33,360 women.
Of these women, about 2,750, or about 8 percent, are married, he said, citing Foxconn’s submission.
Foxconn did not break down the staffing figures into specific areas such as iPhone assembly, where Reuters reported that the discrimination was taking place, Narasaiah said.
He added that the labor inspectors interviewed 40 married women inside the plant, who raised no concerns about discrimination.
Narasaiah said he has no plan to question Foxconn’s third-party hiring agents, who scout for candidates and bring them to the plant for interviews.
A Reuters investigation published last week found Foxconn systematically excluded married women from assembly jobs at its main Indian iPhone plant on the grounds that they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts.
Foxconn HR sources and third-party hiring agents cited family duties, pregnancy and higher absenteeism as reasons for not hiring married women.
The reporting also found that Foxconn relaxes the practice of not hiring married women during high-production periods.
The story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, and calls from opposition figures and women’s groups, including within Modi’s party, to investigate the matter.
Responding to the Reuters investigation, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and said they had worked to address the issues.
However, the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters at the Tamil Nadu plant took place last year and this year.
The companies did not address those instances.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), has previously said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple has said all its suppliers, including Foxconn, hire married women, and “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022, we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.”
Indian law does not bar companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, although Apple’s and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS