Apply said on Saturday that its employees and independent auditors hired by the company to investigate the issues at Wistron’s Narasapura facility found that Apple’s ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’ was violated at the facility and Wistron failed to implement proper working hour management processes. This led to “payment delays for some workers in October and November,” Apple said, citing preliminary findings.
Apple has placed its contract with manufacturing partner Wistron on probation and won’t give the Taiwanese firm any new business until it takes “complete corrective actions” following lapses at its southern India plant earlier this month.
“As always, our focus is on making sure everyone in our supply chain is protected and treated with dignity and respect. We are very disappointed and taking immediate steps to address these issues. Wistron has taken disciplinary action and is restructuring their recruitment and payroll teams in Narasapura,” Apple said in the statement. “Apple employees, along with independent auditors, will monitor their progress.”
A report by the Karnataka state government concluded this week that serious violations of labor laws — including underpayment of wages, and irregular hours and poor working conditions — were taking place at Wistron’s facility in India.
In a statement earlier today, Wistron acknowledged that some workers at its plant had not been paid properly. It also announced that it was removing a top executive who oversaw the Taiwanese firm’s India business. “Some of the processes we put in place to manage labor agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded. We are also enhancing our processes and restructuring our teams to ensure these issues cannot happen again. 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,” it said.
Wistron, meanwhile, will not receive new business till corrective measures are implemented.
In a statement issued on December 19 the company said team members’ “safety and well wellbeing is always top priority.” The iPhone supplier said it is removing vice president Vincent Lee who oversees its India activities.
“Since the unfortunate events at our Narasapura facility we have been investigating and have found that some workers were not paid correctly, or on time. We deeply regret this and apologize to all of our workers,” Wistron said in its statement.
