Workers riot at Wistron iPhone plant in India over shorted pay

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  • Reply 21 of 44
    ktappektappe Posts: 830member
    red oak said:
    -  The employees who caused damage should be immediately identified, fired, and banned from ever working at Wistron again 

    -  Individual criminal charges should be filed

    It's sad that your 1st thought is to punish those who were lashing out at being wronged.  How do you know they didn't already try to use legal means to correct the situation?  Often such low-level workers get ignored (or worse) when they complain.  Seems to me your 1st priority should be to punish Wistron; if they hadn't misbehaved, none of this would have happened.
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  • Reply 22 of 44
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member
    The company issued an update. It said this is caused by outside criminals not company employees. There is no issue in pay.
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  • Reply 23 of 44
    nlrznlrz Posts: 11member
    This isn’t uncommon in India. One of my former employers had this happen at their Pune factory a few years back. Destroyed equipment and glass throughout the building and actively sought out managers the to beat up. 
    I read that as "Prune factory" and thought it was wicked for a bunch of employees to revolt by smashing up all the prunes at the factory and making the floor a bright red color. 
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  • Reply 24 of 44
    nlrznlrz Posts: 11member
    red oak said:
    A manufacturing facility like this has A LOT of security cameras 

    -  The employees who caused damage should be immediately identified, fired, and banned from ever working at Wistron again 

    -  Individual criminal charges should be filed
     
    The employees won't get fired. Their unions will ensure that they stay with the company and either move to a different department or be put on paid leave.
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  • Reply 25 of 44
    Fatmanfatman Posts: 513member
    Don’t put this on Apple ... Once again this is all about the evil Chinese corporations. These Indian workers are revolting about being abused - in this case being lied to and duped by their Chinese employers. Chinese workers don’t dare do this because they are brainwashed by their government and fearful for their lives. These corporations (aka the state) need to be stopped. The rest of the world cannot compete against an inhuman, immoral country that pays <$2/hr wages, has no respect for human life, no respect for the environment,  no respect for intellectual property, and no respect for the rules that the rest of the world has established and values.
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  • Reply 26 of 44
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,897member
    India like Brazil won’t work Apple....
    neoncat
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  • Reply 27 of 44
    According to workers I met from SE Asia this is inline with how contractors take advantage of their employees. They even charge them a hefty fee for the opportunity to work! Apple should pull their contract from such corrupt executive culture, or force a major change and executive terminations. Unfair treatment of employees will be reflected in the quality of products that come out of those factories. 

    It wasn't that Apple chose India as a preferred manufacturing venue.   India extorted them by threatening to block them from selling in India if they didn't manufacture there.

    It was foolish of Apple to succumb to such extortion.   India has a long history of instability, lack of stability and corruption.
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  • Reply 28 of 44
    Probably very "fair" working conditions, similar to Chinese "work" camps aka China Guantanamo. 
    BTW Guantanamo: no plans to assemble iPhones also there?
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  • Reply 29 of 44
    red oak said:
    A manufacturing facility like this has A LOT of security cameras 

    -  The employees who caused damage should be immediately identified, fired, and banned from ever working at Wistron again 

    -  Individual criminal charges should be filed

    -  Apple needs to find out immediately details around employee pay. I find it very hard to believe Wistron thought it could get away with this knowing Apple's strict vendor employee rules and consequences.   It makes no sense.    I think there is more to the story


    India is a mess.  The only reason Apple manufacturers there is to avoid paying ridiculous import tariffs.    I don't think India is viable for production to supply the rest of the world.  That is going fall to Vietnam, other SE Asian countries and maybe Mexico 

    So how is this any different from the early days of American unionization where workers had to enforce their strikes with guns -- guns that got used?
    Prior to that American companies did exactly as you recommend:   They fired any and all workers with thoughts of protest against a company.  In the case of Carnegie Steel, Carnegie hired Henry Clay Frick to enhance corporate profits by reducing already low wages while increasing work hours.   The result was the Homestead Strike

    In the Homestead Strike 9 strikers and 7 Pinkertons (read "private militia hired by Henry Clay Frick") were killed.
    Later, in riots associated with the Pullman strike 30 people were killed amongst massive property damage.

    In both cases the strikes ended when state and federal governments sent in troops to suppress the strikes and support the companies.

    It's what happens when workers are abused and government doesn't step in quickly to support the companies and suppress the workers.
    It's untenable to allow workers a taste of freedom and dignity but then continue to oppress and abuse them.
    ... You just can't have it both ways:   Freedom and dignity of workers while oppressing and abusing them.
    edited December 2020
    gatorguyrobaba
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  • Reply 30 of 44
    Beats said:
    Goodness I thought this place had the smartest posters. This is sounding almost as bad as MacRumors.

    1. This is NOT Apple. So no, Tim Cook did not cut these people's pay nor is Apple in any control of what happens here. This does not reflect Apple's human rights and none of these people are Apple employees.

    2. Apple cannot snap their fingers and materialize a new 3rd party manufacturer out of thin air, with property and employees and all.

    3. Apple should ONLY be concerned about employees striking as it slows down production. THIS is what we should be concerned about as Apple contracted this company to fulfill a purpose and this company not paying employees fairly gets in the way of this purpose.

    Again this IS NOT APPLE!!! Apple has a contract in place and the fact management is failing at this contract gives Apple the right to sue the sh** out of them. I'm sure the contract has quotas in place and punishment if these company rips Apple off. This is basic business practice here.
    Yes, it is Apple.   Apple hired the contract manufacturer.   And they can fire that contract manufacturer if they do not live up to corporate expectations.

    And, yes, Apple CAN materialize a new 3rd party manufacturer out of thin air:   It's called FoxConn in China.  They do the job cheaply, reliably and well with minimal abuse of their workers.   (The worst recent allegation was having too high a concentration of contract labor in the months leading to the release of the iPhone 12).

    Apple was only manufacturing in India because they submitted themselves to Indian extortion.
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  • Reply 31 of 44
    Six months ago I was the only one pounding on Apple with regard to China's workers, and now I see a lot of people pounding on Apple with regard to India. I guess human rights does matter to some people here. My work is done. Human lives matter.
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  • Reply 32 of 44
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Six months ago I was the only one pounding on Apple with regard to China's workers, and now I see a lot of people pounding on Apple with regard to India. I guess human rights does matter to some people here. My work is done. Human lives matter.
      :D

    You alone started criticism of Apple's human right record.  Yeah.  Sure.  

    So we'll add pomposity and self-delusion to your list of ridiculous character traits then.  
    dangermouse2GeorgeBMacmuthuk_vanalingamrobabarandominternetperson
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  • Reply 33 of 44
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,481member
    They should have burned the place down. Greedy businessmen only understand 1 thing: losing money. Hit the wallet and maybe next time they'll learn to pay properly.

    As for Apple, how could they agree to use a company they know is paying staff a pittance when they sell some of the most expensive gadgets on the planet?

    Responsibility is on Apple to not squeeze the best deal out of suppliers and to make sure staff get paid properly.

    How about we empty Tim's back account and pay him $100 a month??!
    We have deep poverty here in the US that may be equivalent when you compare the cost of living. Right now we have over 20 million Americans who are dependent on food banks to eat. The cost of living here is 6-8 times the cost in India. We are willing to focus on other countries while ignoring Americans struggling to pay rent because a full time job is only enough to pay rent and maybe electricity. They need a second full time job to eat and support transportation 
    edited December 2020
    dewmeGeorgeBMac
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  • Reply 34 of 44
    GeorgeBMacgeorgebmac Posts: 11,421member
    genovelle said:
    They should have burned the place down. Greedy businessmen only understand 1 thing: losing money. Hit the wallet and maybe next time they'll learn to pay properly.

    As for Apple, how could they agree to use a company they know is paying staff a pittance when they sell some of the most expensive gadgets on the planet?

    Responsibility is on Apple to not squeeze the best deal out of suppliers and to make sure staff get paid properly.

    How about we empty Tim's back account and pay him $100 a month??!
    We have deep poverty here in the US that may be equivalent when you compare the cost of living. Right now we have over 20 million Americans who are dependent on food banks to eat. The cost of living here is 6-8 times the cost in India. We are willing to focus on other countries while ignoring Americans struggling to pay rent because a full time job is only enough to pay rent and maybe electricity. They need a second full time job to eat and support transportation 

    Yeh, but it only becomes problematic when they start burning stuff and knocking stuff down like these workers are doing.

    Similar conditions for American workers didn't change until until they pulled out their guns and hammers.   But now it's slipping back to the way things were over a hundred years ago.  We have a long way to go to get to that point.   But it's headed in that direction.
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  • Reply 35 of 44
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,954member
    Stop blaming Apple as first Apple is business and it can do so much. Desperation can bring riots and violence no matter where human lives. Humans are root cause of p world problems.
    edited December 2020
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  • Reply 36 of 44
    https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202012130005

    This story is a lot more nuanced that Apple low-balling it’s contractors. 

    I’ve read a few articles stating that it was the staffing agency that is withholding the money (corruption?)
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  • Reply 37 of 44
    American style shareholder capitalism does not work without an underpaid underclass, preferably large enough to fight one another for the right to work. It began with slavery (No, not competing for jobs that time) and progressed through various schemes until it hit the jackpot with offshore outsourcing to Asia. No dirty, smelly slaves/"employees" living in the backyard, workers provide their own food and housing, and dissent is far enough away that it can be ignored mist of the time. There is almost always someone hungry and desperate enough to help drive wages down even further, possibly in a different country, and another class of people, either government  military or privately paid "security", tasked with keeping employees down in their places, aka "order"

    A solution? Informed customers who understand that their purchases are more than just a financial transaction, but a political statement. Refusing to buy an Apple product says, "I know what you are doing and I disagree with it. I know I cannot dictate to you how you do your business, but I can tell you my money will not participate."
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  • Reply 38 of 44
    GeorgeBMacgeorgebmac Posts: 11,421member
    wood1208 said:
    Stop blaming Apple as first Apple is business and it can do so much. Desperation can bring riots and violence no matter where human lives. Humans are root cause of p world problems.

    True!  Apple did not cause these workers to be abused.
    But, Apple does have influence with the organization that did abuse them and it can terminate its relationship with them.
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  • Reply 39 of 44
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,780member
    Thanks for the laugh. 

    Funny how a side that uses wordplay to disparage anyone who doesn’t agree with them on every topic, gets really thin skinned when the tables are turned.
    Funny how "thin-skinned" people who can't figure out how the quote system works get when "a side" uses "wordplay" to prove that they are using jargon they don't understand ...
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  • Reply 40 of 44
    tzeshan said:
    The company issued an update. It said this is caused by outside criminals not company employees. There is no issue in pay.
    Well there you go.  I'm sure the company has no reason to bend the truth.
    gatorguy
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