On 12 December, unrest broke out at Wistron’s iPhone factory in the Indian city of Narsapura, after thousands of employees complained about what they felt to be unreasonable working conditions and low wages.
The riot resulted in estimated property damage totalling $7m, or £5m. You can see what it looked like in the following Twitter post from TOI Bengaluru:
Karnataka: #Violence at iPhone production plant run by Taiwan-based #Wistron Corp at Narasapura (in Kolar district) near #Bengaluru.
Employees allege they have not been paid properly. pic.twitter.com/GKbeFeyRKc
— TOI Bengaluru (@TOIBengaluru)
December 12, 2020
Authorities in the state of Karnataka have since investigated the incident and appear to have concluded that the employees had a point: “Exploitative practices such as underpayment of wages, irregular hours and poor working conditions were common,” reports the South China Morning Post.
It will be a while before the factory in question can be reopened, but the hope is that it will not lead to an iPhone shortage. At time of writing, Apple has not commented on the incident.
The company has been the subject of some discussion this year about the working practices in its enormous supply chain. In November Apple suspended new business with Pegatron over labour violations, and earlier this month three former members of the company’s Supplier Responsibility team accused it of being complicit in labour law violations.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
