(Reuters) -Apple said it had placed its iPhone assembler Foxconn’s plant in southern India on probation after both companies found that some remote dormitories and dining rooms used for employees did not meet required standards.
Apple did not detail what being on probation meant. When it placed the southern India plant of another supplier, Wistron Corp, on probation after unrest last year, it said it would not award the Taiwanese company new business until it addressed the way workers were treated.
The latest action comes on the heels of protests that erupted earlier this month after more than 250 women who work at the Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur town, near the southern city of Chennai, and live in one of the dormitories, had to be treated for food poisoning.
The plant, which employs some 17,000 people, was closed on Dec 18. Apple and Foxconn didn’t say when they expected it to reopen.
A spokesperson for Foxconn said on Wednesday that it was restructuring its local management team, taking immediate steps to improve facilities and added that all employees would continue to be paid while it makes necessary improvements to restart operations.
More than 150 employees at the factory were hospitalised for food poisoning, Reuters had reported on Dec. 18.
An Apple spokesperson said on Wednesday it had dispatched independent auditors to assess conditions at the dormitories “following recent concerns about food safety and accommodation conditions at Foxconn Sriperumbudur.”
Apple said it had found that some of the remote dormitory accommodations and dining rooms being used for employees did not meet its requirements and that it was working with the supplier to ensure a comprehensive set of corrective actions, adding that it will ensure its strict standards are met before the facility reopens.
Earlier this week, Reuters had reported that Foxconn as well as 11 of its contractors, including those who provide food and living facilities, were summoned for a meeting with the state government and that officials had asked Foxconn to review services provided to the workers, including power backup at the hostels, food and water.
The impact on Apple from the closure of the plant, which makes iPhone 12 models and has started trial production of the iPhone 13, is expected to be minimal, analysts have said. But the factory is strategic in the long term as Apple tries to cut its reliance on China’s supply chain amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh, Sudarshan Varadhan in Chennai, Chandini Monappa in Bengaluru, Dawn Chmielewsk in Los Angeles and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Kenneth Maxwell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
