iPhone maker Wistron to remove India vice president after plant violence; apologises to workers

Wistron slashes estimate of losses from Kolar violence to Rs 26 crore-Rs 52 crore from Rs 437 crore

After a large number of employees allegedly carried out arson, loot and violence at the Narasapura manufacturing plant of Wistron over some wages related issues on December 12, the company said it's enhancing processes and restructuring teams.

"This is a new facility and we recognize that we made mistakes as we expanded. Some of the processes we put in place to manage labor agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded. We are taking immediate action to correct this, including disciplinary action," Wistron said.

The company has been manufacturing iPhone SE 2020 at the Kolar plant, along with some older generation iPhones. The plant also manufactures some products for other companies such as Lenovo.

Wistron said it's top priority is to ensure all workers are fully compensated immediately and the company is working hard to achieve that, "We have established an employee assistance program for workers at the facility. We also set up a 24-hour grievance hotline in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English to ensure all workers can voice any concerns they may have anonymously."

Also read: Wistron could see production loss of 8-9%, negligible losses for Apple from Kolar violence: Counterpoint

Further, it said, "We are deeply committed to our business and employees in India. We are working diligently on corrective actions to ensure this does not happen again."

Wistron executives had claimed that there was looting of iPhones during the violence and have said outside criminals were also involved apart from contract workers.

The local police has filed an FIR against 7,000 people, including 5,000 unnamed contract workers.