Apple suspends business with its Indian manufacturer partner after riots at factory

Apple suspends business with its Indian manufacturer partner after riots at its factory.

The tech giant has announced to place “Wistron” under surveillance after riots in its Indian factory caused losses estimated at $ 7.1 million. The incident occurred on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020.

As being reported, the iPhone assembly plant in India owned by one of its major subcontractors, Taiwan-based Wistron Corporation (3231.TW).

“While these investigations are continuing, our preliminary findings indicate violations of our supplier’s code of conduct through failure to implement appropriate work hour management procedures,” the company statement said.

 “This resulted in delays in payment for some workers in October and November”.

Wistron said it will fire its vice president in charge of manufacturing in India.

Apple said in a statement said that “We have put and watch over-under surveillance and will not receive any new business from Apple before they complete corrective actions.”

Last weekend, about 2,000 workers coming from the night shift destroyed the lobby and other parts of the facilities in Narasapura, India, and Apple, and Wistron both acknowledged payment gaps in October and November, according to Indian media reports.

As per media reports, the conflict started in Narasapura, a suburb of Bengaluru, when workers left the Wistron factory early Saturday morning. Some of them were reported to have received only small parts of the promised wages and by the morning the discussion had turned violent.

A police official told a newspaper that the angry mob broke through the four main entrance gates, looted offices, destroyed safes and desks, and destroyed documents containing details of employees.

Police have arrested at least 149 people so far, and investigations are underway to identify more perpetrators.

Wistron in its filed complaint has accused more than 5,000 contract workers and roughly 2,000 other unknown individuals of contributing to property damage in the riot.

However, identifying rioters caught on surveillance video may be hampered by the fact that many were wearing masks as the result of COVID-19.