After being shut down for over three weeks due to employee protests, Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn, on Wednesday, resumed operations at its Sriperumbudur unit in Tamil Nadu with 345 employees. The number of employees will gradually increase over the next two weeks, thus enabling Foxconn to move ahead with a full 15,000 workforce.
The plant, which makes Apple iPhones and Amazon fire sticks, had shut down its operations on December 18, following employees protesting against the wretched conditions in its dormitories. Employees of Foxconn, in December, came out on the road in Sriperumbudur to protest against food poisoning, stating that 100 workers fell ill because of food poisoning and the whereabouts of a few weren’t known. Following this, the state government had set up a team consisting of ministers, bureaucrats and local MLA to address the issue. The team held talks with the Foxconn management and the employees. After talks, the management agreed to upgrade the dormitories and the dining rooms. Subsequently, Foxconn had implemented a set of corrective measures.
In a statement, Foxconn, on Monday, said that "we have been working on a series of improvements to fix issues we found at the off-site dormitory facilities at Sriperumbudur and to enhance services we provide to our employees. We have implemented a range of corrective actions to ensure that this cannot happen again, and a rigorous monitoring system to ensure workers can raise any concerns." A total of 345 workers have returned to work, out of which 166 have undergone COVID tests and have begun work at the plant. The remaining will get their test reports on Wednesday. "The number will gradually increase over the days, and the plant will resume full-fledged operations in the next two weeks," K. Selvaperunthagai, Sriperumbudur Congress MLA, informed THE WEEK. It was to K. Selvaperunthagai's question in the state assembly that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin replied that a separate hostel facility will be set up by the government at Vallam Vadakal in the next 15 months at a cost of over Rs 500 crores. Stalin had said that "the Foxconn facility will resume operations with 500 employees on January 12".
As the hostels are cleared for occupation, more number of workers are gradually expected to return to work in the next two weeks. The facility is now under new management, following a decision by the company’s headquarters at Taipei.
Meanwhile, Apple, which was working closely with the Foxconn management to improve the working conditions and the facilities at the offsite dormitories, will also be monitoring the situation. On a different front, Kanchipuram district collector and officials from various departments, including labour welfare and health, are also monitoring the situation at the hostel and off-site dormitories so that the facilities are up to the required health and hygiene standards.
