Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu plant resumes operations

After being shut for 25 days, Taiwanese electronics major Foxconn on Wednesday resumed operations at its Sriperumbudur factory that manufactures Apple iPhones with a limited number of employees.

While Apple and Foxconn did not respond to e-mails, the Tamil Nadu government said the factory reopened on Wednesday with over 100 employees at work under the new management appointed by the Taiwanese electronics major following protests on December 17 which led to the closure of the factory from December 18.

Industries Minister Thangam Thenarasu said it was happy to note that women employees are returning to work at Foxconn while asserting that the factory will continue with its operations without any hindrance.

Apple and Foxconn had on Monday said in separate statements that production at the Sriperumbudur facility will resume from Wednesday and that workers will start to “return gradually as soon as we are certain our standards are being met in every dormitory and dining area.”

The factory, which employs over 15,000 people, assembles iPhones designed by Apple.

“The factory reopened today. As far as the district administration is concerned, we have inspected the hostels where the employees who have joined will be staying and found them to be fine,” Kanchipuram District Collector Dr M Aarthi told DH.

Sriperumbudur MLA Selva Perunthagai said a total of 365 persons returned to hostels run by Foxconn by Tuesday evening and all of them were subjected to Covid-19 tests. “Of the 365, I am told the results of 166 have come so far and all of them have reported to work after they tested negative for Covid-19. The factory has resumed operations,” he told DH.

The legislator said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin was particular that the living conditions of the employees should meet the required standards and has urged the Foxconn management to ensure that quality food and an adequate amount of drinking water are provided to them at their hostels.

As only 100-plus employees returned to work, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) asked the Tamil Nadu government to ensure that all those who worked in the factory before it was shut down in December to be taken back. “There should be no lay-offs,” the CITU said.

The factory was shut on December 18 after hundreds of women protested on the night of December 17 following the hospitalisation of 159 of their colleagues due to food poisoning. The employees alleged poor quality of food and poor living conditions at hostels provided to them by Foxconn.

Following an inspection by independent auditors at the off-shore dormitories, Apple Inc placed Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur facility on probation. An inspection by a government team found that some of the hostels were lacking in basic amenities, including enough space for the employees to sleep at night.

The government urged Foxconn to ensure each employee had access to four litres of drinking water a day, adequate washrooms to avoid infections and inverter facilities.

It also asked the company to ensure proper security arrangements and fencing of the premises that house women employees.