Kolar, Dec 12: Violence erupted at Wistron's iPhone manufacturing plant at Narsapur in Kolar district of Karnataka, over delayed salary payment.
Police said that nearly 2,000 workers, while returning home after a night shift, attacked the factory and smashed windows of the senior executive offices, the factory’s front lobby and flipping parked cars and they even attempted to set fire to the parked vehicles.
The police immediately rushed to the spot and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the workers. Over 100 agitators have been detained.
It was alleged that the incident was triggered by weeks of shouldering unrest over lack of payments. “The issue has been festering for about 8 to 10 weeks, during which employees were subject to arbitrary changes to their work contracts."
About 90 per cent of the 8,000-strong workforce are contractual workers with a promised salary of Rs 16,000 per month for an 8-hour work shift. But over the last few months, many were being paid only Rs 12,000 and were also told to work for 12 hours a day. People who complained to the management were arbitrarily fired,” the source added.
A source said that most of the workforce dispersed after police allegedly lathi-charged the protesters. Some 60 to 70 employees have been caught by police and have been badly beaten.
M D Harigovind, General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) charged Wistron with exploitative practices. “The industrial violence in Wistron is a direct result of the brutal exploitation of workers and sweatshop-like conditions created by a company, manufacturing the most expensive mobile phones. The state government has allowed the company to flout the basic rights of the workers like payment of wages and working hours. In the absence of any regulation, anarchy has prevailed,” he alleged.
Comments
Thank you because you have willing to share the information with us. we will appreciate all your efforts. AP Sand Booking
Add new comment