Worker rampage cost Wistron Rs 437 crore

A day after workers went on a rampage at iPhone manufacturer Wistron Infocomm, a report by the superintendent of police, Kolar, quoting Wistron CEO Prashanth T D, estimated the damage to the factory at Rs 437.70 crore.

More than 150 people have been arrested in the incident that occurred on Saturday morning at the unit located in Narasapura, Kolar district.

District Labour Officer Srikanth B Patil in a report to Deputy Commissioner C Satyabhama said that a host of issues led to Saturday’s shocking scenes.

The simmering discontent over the payment of wages, confusion over the attendance records and issues between labourers and the management resulted in workers running riot in the plant, the report said.

“The company does not have an employees union. No employee association from the company has filed any complaint with the Labour Department,” it said, adding that prima facie the incident appeared to be the result of lack of coordination between employees and the management.

Deputy Director of Factories Narasimha Murthy gave a separate report on Saturday listing out some of the “reasons for the incident”.

In the report, he stated that Wistron has employed 1,343 permanent and 8,490 contract workers, who were sourced from six contractors.

“According to Payment of Wages Act, the management has to disburse earned wages for the month of November within the 10th of subsequent month,” he said, adding that “the management disbursed the earned wage on 11-12-2020”.

The report listed “dispute between management workers” on the number of days worked by workers and calculation of wages, variation of November’s wages and variation in attendance as among “other reasons”.

“The department will issue a show cause notice immediately about the violation of Payment of Wages Act,” it said.

In a statement, Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) Private Limited said, “We are deeply shocked by the events at our Narasapura facility. We follow the law and are supporting the authorities with their investigation. The safety and well-being of our team members is always our top priority.”

The company management representatives and labour leaders are set to meet on Monday to resolve prevailing issues, labour commissioner Akram Pasha said.

Damage

A report by the Kolar superintendent of police, quoting Wistron’s Chief Executive Officer Prashanth T D, put the estimated damage to the factory at Rs 437.70 crore.
Contract workers damaged valuable machinery and other materials with iron rods, broke costly equipment, personal mobile phones, monitors, laptops.

They robbed smartphones from the company’s production unit, the report said.

It said the workers also assaulted police personnel, abused the security guards and harassed women employees.