Chennai: A Foxconn iPhone factory in India at the center of incidence of mass food poisoning will extend the closure for three extras, a senior official for the Tamil Nadu state told Reuters.
The factory, which employs around 17,000 people, is scheduled to continue several operations on Monday but is now expected to restart production with 1,000 workers on Thursday, the official said, added that the state government had conducted a worker hostel inspection.
Last week, protest erupted after more than 250 women working at the factory and staying in one hostel must be treated for food poisoning.
Some protesters were rounded by the police but were then released.
This incident has thrown the spotlight on the living conditions for workers – most of them women – who live in hostels near the factory located in the southern city of Chennai.
Taiwanese contract manufacturers for Apple Inc.
and other big technology names and 11 of their contractors including those who provide food and live facilities called for meetings, the official said.
The official was not authorized to talk about this problem and refused to be identified.
The state government asked Foxconn to review services provided to workers including reserves of power in hostels, food and water, and the directorate of industrial safety and health also recommend providing recreational facilities such as TV, library and indoor games, the official was added.
According to separate government sources, Foxconn told state bureaucrats that had “increased production too fast” and gradually would ensure that worker facilities were increased before they returned to full capacity.
Representatives for Foxconn and Apple are not immediately available for comments.
The factory gate, which is on the outskirts of South Chennai, is open on Monday morning and some vehicles move in and out but the area is mostly quiet.
Impact on Apple from factory closure, which makes the iPhone 12 model and has started the production of the iPhone 13 test, is expected to be minimal, analysts said.
But the strategic factory in the long run because Apple tries to cut its dependence on the Chinese supply chain in the midst of trading tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Disorders come when Apple deals with supply chain barriers related to pandemics that have production.
In October, the company warned that the impact of this supply chain problem would deteriorate during the holiday quarter.
The riots at Foxconn are the second such as the Apple supplier factory in India in a year.
In December 2020, thousands of contract workers in a factory owned by the Wistron Corp destroyed equipment and vehicles for alleged non-payment of wages, which caused damage to $ 60 million.
Cuertino, Apple headquartered California has been a big bet in India since it started the iPhone assembly in the country in 2017.
Foxconn, Wistron and other suppliers, Pegatron, together committed around $ 900 million for five years to make an iPhone in India.