Apple puts India iPhone plant 'on probation' after mass food poisoning

Some 250 women working at factory in Tamil Nadu were treated for food poisoning, 159 of whom were hospitalised


AFP December 29, 2021
Private security guards stand at the entrance of a closed plant of Foxconn India, which makes iPhones for Apple Inc, near Chennai, India, on Dec 22. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

Apple said on Wednesday it has put the Indian plant of its main supplier "on probation" after a mass food poisoning and protests over workers’ living conditions.

Some 250 women working at Foxconn's iPhone factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu were treated for food poisoning this month, 159 of whom were hospitalised.

This prompted demonstrations against living conditions at company hostels that have kept the factory at Sriperumbudur near Chennai closed since December 18.

Apple said it has placed the plant "on probation" and is working with the supplier to rapidly implement "a comprehensive set of corrective actions".

Read more: Apple to make fewer iPhones as demand wanes

The factory employs some 17,000 people. It makes iPhones for the Indian market and for export, as well as other gadgets.

Foxconn said it was "very sorry for the issue our employees experienced and are taking immediate steps to enhance the facilities and services we provide at the remote dormitory accommodations."

"We are also restructuring our local management team and our management systems to ensure we can achieve and maintain the high standards that are needed," a Foxconn spokesperson said.

Also read: Apple's App Store broke competition laws, Dutch watchdog says

The Taipei-based company said employees will continue to be paid while improvements are made.

Apple has long faced criticism about the treatment of workers at its partner factories in China, particularly after a spate of suicides at the industrial park of Foxconn in Shenzhen in 2010.

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