Apple probing if Wistron facility in India flouted supplier rules: Report

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Apple Inc is probing if its Taiwanese contractor Wistron Corp flouted supplier guidelines at a violence-hit iPhone manufacturing facility near Bengaluru, the Economic Times said, citing people familiar with the development.

Over the weekend, several media reports said workers upset about working hours and payments trashed a Wistron factory and about a 100 people were detained.

Wistron is one of Apple's top global suppliers. In India, its makes iPhone 7 and the second generation iPhone SE devices.

Two battery-powered buggies were set on fire, six vehicles were damaged and glass windows and doors of the facility were smashed by iron rod-wielding workers, according to a Times of India report https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/workers-at-iphone-plant-in-kolar-go-on-rampage/articleshow/79700001.cms.

Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Wistron said in a statement it was "deeply shocked by the incident."

"The accident was caused by unknown persons bursting in and causing damage to the plant with unclear intentions. The company always abides by the law, and fully supports and is cooperating with relevant authorities and police investigations," the company said in a statement to the Taipei Stick Exchange.

Apple's supplier guidelines mandate third-party staffing agencies to pay workers and provide them other benefits as per rules and on time, the Economic Times said, adding it will examine if there was any disparity in wages agreed and paid to the staff.

 

 

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in New Delhi, Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)