The aftermath of violent protests at an iPhone manufacturing facility run by Wistron Corporation in Bengaluru was at first estimated to be at Rs 437 crore, according to the FIR filed by the company at the Wemgal police station. Now, however, in filings given to the Taiwan stock exchange, the company has said its losses were much less, at around Rs 52 crore.
From acts of looting to arson, the protests—triggered by workers alleging unpaid salaries—were estimated to have damaged up to Rs 10 crore of infrastructure, Rs 60 lakh worth of cars and golf carts, Rs 1.5 crore of smartphones and gadgets and Rs 412.5 crore of office equipment and production machinery.
But, according to Wistron’s filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the company was assessing the extent of the damage and “unlike earlier reports state,d the violence did not cause any material damage to major manufacturing equipment and warehouses, with preliminary estimates of damages in the range of NTD 100-200 million (Rs 26-52 crore).
“Wistron is co-working with related government authorities and police officials regarding investigation of this incident as well as negotiating with Insurance companies,” it added.
It is worth noting that the damage to the plant was said to have limited fundamental impact in 2020, according to a Morgan Stanly research note.
Karnataka Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar blamed “immaturity” on the part of the workers as he expressed hope that the factory would restart soon.
"There is no employees union as yet...There was immaturity on part of the labourers, also the company should have paid attention towards contractors..we will get to know in a couple of days, the exact information on how much amount was paid (towards workers) and when," Hebbar said.
Speaking to PTI, he said meetings have taken place at the government level and also with the union Cabinet Secretary from Delhi -- the Centre is also involved. The company has said it will try to start the factory in about 15 days, the minister said. "I hope it will be as early as possible.
Also we will get the money that the labourers should get, actions are on in this regard...investigations are on, we are checking as to what really has happened," he added.
Workers at the plant, run by the Taiwanese operator, had gone on a rampage on Saturday over the alleged delay in payment of salary and overtime wages. Over 150 people have been arrested following the incident that witnessed pelting of stones, breaking windows and doors, overturning and setting fire to vehicles in the parking lot footage of which had flooded the social media.
The minister pointed out that the incident had happened early on December 12 and on December 14 a meeting was held with company and labour department senior officers.
The minister said the company has 8,490 contractual employees through outsourcing arrangement with five-six companies and about 1,343 permanent staff working at the facility.
He said their grouse was that contract employees were not being paid properly. Women were recruited but there were no proper measures and instead of eight hours they were made to work for 12 hours. "This was their anger, but they had not shared their grievances with the government or the department, or even sent a letter."
"We are here to protect the interest of labourers, but this act of taking law into hands, the government will not support. This is not the right way," he said, as he appealed to the labour community in the state to approach it as the department is there to address their issues.
In August, Apple began assembling the 2020 iPhone SE in India at this plant.
With inputs from PTI
