Apple: an Indian factory placed on a “trial period” after the hospitalization of 159 workers

It is an event that says a lot about the working conditions in some Indian factories. Apple announced on Wednesday that it had placed an Indian factory of its main supplier on a trial basis after widespread food poisoning and protests to denounce the living conditions of workers. Some 250 women working for a factory that makes iPhones for Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn in southern Tamil Nadu state were victims of food poisoning in December and 159 of them. they were hospitalized.

This sparked protests against living conditions in accommodation at the site of the Sriperumbudur factory near Chennai, which had been closed since December 18. US giant Apple said it has placed the plant on a trial basis and is working with the supplier to quickly implement “a set of corrective measures”.

This factory, which employs more than 17,000 people, manufactures Iphones for the Indian market and for export, as well as accessories. Foxconn, an Apple subcontractor, said he was “very sorry for the problem our employees are having” and said he is taking “immediate steps to improve the facilities and services within the dormitories”.

The Taiwanese conglomerate stressed that employees will remain paid while these improvements are made. Apple has long been criticized for the way workers are treated at contract factories in China, especially after a wave of worker suicides at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen in 2010.