VIOLENCE-HIT WISTRON HIRED MORE THAN IT COULD HANDLE

BENGALURU: Apple Inc.’s supplier in India quadrupled workers in about eight months, ramping up production just as the world’s most valuable company began direct online sales in the country. The only hitch: Wistron Corp.’s systems weren’t robust enough to handle the deluge.

The number of workers at the Taiwanese company, the first Apple supplier to produce iPhones in India, surged to about 9,000 in November from some 2,000 just before the pandemic, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Wistron hired the contractual workers from six manpower companies, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter was private. A representative for Wistron declined to comment.

The rapid expansion stretched the company’s systems and sapped the bandwidth of its management team, one of the people said. Its employee access system soon foundered, leaving it with patchy attendance records, delaying wages and overtime pay. Wistron’s human resource team—comprising about three people—just couldn’t cope up with the workers’ grievances.

On December 12, many workers—promised roughly ₹15,000 a month—rioted over unpaid salaries.

The violence brings into focus the geopolitical challenge Apple faces. It is already navigating trade tensions between the US and China, while reducing its dependence on the latter for producing its iPhones, iPads and Mac laptops. Now, it has to contend with a deteriorating relationship between India and China.

Apple has said it is probing the incident and whether Wistron adhered to its labour practices. It sent staff and auditors to the site, in cooperation with the local police.