For the time being, Apple does not want to place any new orders with the manufacturer Wistron, as its iPhone factory in South India was destroyed by employees. According to the first results of Apple’s investigation of the incident, working hours in the factory were not correctly recorded, which led to delays in wage payments for “some workers” in October and November, according to the news agency Reuters . Wistron must now remove the violations of Apple’s code of conduct for suppliers.

grievances around wage payments Violent protests broke out in the iPhone factory near Bengaluru in mid-December: Around Workers reportedly destroyed inventory and assembly facilities after receiving ever lower wages. Over 100 workers were subsequently arrested. Wistron initially spoke of damage amounting to 10 million US dollars and referred to “unknown individuals from outside with unclear intentions” as the trigger – later the damage amount was corrected to around 7 million US dollars. Wistron admitted to Reuters over the weekend that workers were not paid on time. Mistakes were made in the rapid expansion of the still young plant and that is why the top manager of the India business will be fired.

Loud According to an investigation by local authorities, the number of workers at the Wistron plant, which has only been operational since September, has risen from 2000 to over 10.000 more than doubled, the majority of which are said to be temporary workers. Among other things, the iPhone SE is manufactured in the plant. The local HR department was not really familiar with labor law, the report said. There are allegations of further violations – in addition to wage arrears, there was also underpaid – and overall poor working conditions. Apple stressed that the plant would be checked further and that all workers would be “paid in full”.

Become more independent from China The incident could delay Apple’s plans to rapidly expand iPhone manufacturing in India. In order to open up the huge Indian smartphone market and to reduce the dependence on China for iPhone final production, Apple has been building production capacities in India for several years, mainly relying on Wistron. Apple’s contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron also want to start manufacturing in India shortly, according to the news agency.

(lbe)