Kolar: A manufacturing plant of iPhones operated by Taiwanese tech goliath Wistron Corporation at Narsapura went under attack on Saturday from its employees over salary dues, the police stated.
The iPhone plant set up on 43 acres at Narasapura industrial region in Kolar that is about 60 km from Bengaluru. Wistron was allotted 43 acres at Narasapura industrial region from the state government after it proposed to invest about Rs 2,900 crore and assurance to offer work to more than 10,000 individuals.
The Narasapura facility is being utilized to make Apple’s smartphone iPhone SE, Internet of Things (IoT) products, and biotech devices.
A greater part of the almost 2,000 employees, who were leaving the office after finishing their night shift, went out of control destroying furniture, assembly units and even tried to set fire vehicles.
Kolar district Deputy Commissioner, C. Satyabhama said to IANS that a segment of furious employees went on a rampage over salary dues. She said without elaborating much: “The company is all likely to register formal complaints with the district police soon and police action will follow soon.”
Senior police officers alongside additional personnel from the Kolar region have hurried to the location.
In the video recordings that were shot by a couple of fellow workers during the arson, those leading the mobs were seen breaking glass panes and doors, turning vehicles upside down, and attacking the offices of senior executives.
Though Wistron is yet to remark on the violence, police sources said that the worker unrest was set off by salary remittances promised to them.
In the interim, sources in the police department disclosed to IANS that employees working this plant were furious that the organization was not paying the amount that was promised to them at the hour of joining.
The police stated: “While an engineering graduate was promised Rs 21,000 per month, his/her salary had decreased to Rs 16,000 after the prolonged lockdown and subsequently citing the pandemic as a reason it was slashed to Rs 12,000 further in the recent months. While non-engineering graduates’ monthly salary was decreased to around Rs 8,000 from around Rs 15,000. The salary amount being credited to their accounts had been decreasing and this seem to have triggered the unrest at least our prima facie investigations suggest that.”
The police are yet to file a case but investigations are in progress.
