Responding to the incident that took place at the Wistron factory near Bengaluru, Apple has placed the supplier on probation. As during its initial findings, the company has found the violations of the supplier code of conduct at the location. Earlier Wistron has removed its Vice-President in charge of India and has accepted the lapses in payments to its workers.
In a statement Apple said, “Apple employees and independent auditors hired by Apple have been working around the clock to investigate the issues which occurred at Wistron’s Narasapura facility. While these investigations are ongoing, our preliminary findings indicate violations of our Supplier Code of Conduct by failing to implement proper working hour management processes. This led to payment delays for some workers in October and November”. It also added that, “Wistron has taken disciplinary action and is restructuring their recruitment and payroll teams in Narasapura. We have placed Wistron on probation and they will not receive any new business from Apple before they complete corrective actions. Apple employees, along with independent auditors, will monitor their progress”.
Earlier Wistron released the statement and said, “Since the unfortunate events at our Narasapura facility we have been investigating and have found that some workers were not paid correctly, or on time. We deeply regret this and apologize to all of our workers. This is a new facility and we recognize that we made mistakes as we expanded. Some of the processes we put in place to manage labour agencies and payments need to be strengthened and upgraded. We are taking immediate action to correct this, including disciplinary action. We are removing the Vice President who oversees our business in India. We are also enhancing our processes and restructuring our teams to ensure these issues cannot happen again”.