Sudarshan Varadhan (A. Ananthalakshmi) and Ahmed Farhatha

SRIPERUMBUDUR (India) – For the money, women working at a Foxconn factory in South India built iPhones. They had to endure cramped dorms with no flush toilets, food that was sometimes crawling with worms, and a crowded living quarters.

However, over 250 of them became ill from contaminated food. This anger culminated in an unusual protest that closed down a plant with 17,000 workers.

Reuters takes a close look at what happened before and after Dec. 17, protest. It reveals shocking details about the living and working conditions of Foxconn (NASDAQ:), a company central to Apple’s supply chain.

It comes as Apple continues to ramp up its iPhone 13 production and investors push the company to be more transparent about labor conditions at suppliers.

Reuters talked to six female workers at Foxconn near Chennai. Because they fear retaliation from the police or on their job, all six women requested that they not be named.

Five workers claimed that they slept in the rooms on the ground, where there were between 6 and 30 women. Two workers claimed that the hostel where they lived had no running water and toilets.

According to Reuters, “People who lived in hostels had always suffered from some kind of illness — skin allergies or chest pains, food poisoning” another worker at the plant, a 21 year-old woman, said. She said that food poisoning has been reported in the past by one or two workers.

We didn’t make much of it, because we believed it would be fixed. She said that it now affected many people.

FOXCONN PLANT ABOUT PROBATION

Foxconn and Apple said Wednesday that certain dormitories, dining rooms and other areas for factory employees did not comply with the required standards.

Apple stated in a statement that the facility was placed on probation and will make sure it meets strict standards before it reopens.

“We discovered that the faraway dormitory accommodation and the dining room used by employees don’t meet our standards. We are currently working closely with the supplier to implement a complete set of corrective measures.”

Apple has not provided details about the changes that will be made at the plant for employees or what standards would be used.

Tamil Nadu’s housing laws for women workers require that each individual be given at least 120 sq. feet of living space. Housing must also adhere to fire and hygiene safety regulations as set out by the local authorities.

Foxconn stated that they were restructuring their local management team, and are taking immediate measures to improve the facilities. The company stated that all employees will continue to receive their wages while the necessary repairs are made to restore operations.

Venpa Staffing Services (a Foxconn contractor) runs the Dorm, where employees were exposed to food poisoning. They declined comment.

Food poisoning, and the subsequent demonstrations, have led to several investigations by four Tamil Nadu state agencies, many of which are still ongoing. Foxconn officials have told Foxconn privately to provide better conditions for Foxconn, state officials claimed.

Thangam Thennarasu (the industries minister in Tamil Nadu), said to Reuters that Foxconn is responsible.

In a statement, the Tamil Nadu government stated that it had requested Foxconn to improve working conditions and quality of living.

According to the statement, Foxconn agreed that its workers’ living conditions would comply with government guidelines and legal requirements.

Foxconn and Apple didn’t indicate when the plant would reopen in their statements.

Foxconn claimed to state officials it had “ramped-up production too quickly” but, according to Reuters, production was cut off during April/May when COVID-19 Delta was raging across India. This was confirmed by a top government official in the state’s Industries department.

Foxconn in Taiwan opened the facility in 2019, promising to create up to 25,000. This is in line with Prime Minister NarendraModi’s “Make in India”, campaign for manufacturing jobs.

Sriperumbudur is the town just outside Chennai, where the factory is located. It is an industrial zone with many factories making products from Daimler (OTC) and Samsung (KS).

Apple is trying to move production from China because of tensions between Beijing, Washington. The factory plays a central role in their efforts. Reuters last year reported that Foxconn had plans to invest as much as $1 billion into the factory over three years.

Foxconn contracts out the staffing of the factory to labour brokers, who are also responsible for housing the workers – mostly women – employed there.

POOR DRAINAGE AND RATS

After the demonstrations ended, food safety inspectors went to the hostel and found rats in its kitchen. They also discovered poor drainage. Jegadish Chandra, a Senior Food Safety Officer from the Thiruvallur District where the hostel is situated, spoke out to Reuters.

He said that “the samples analysed failed to meet the required safety standard.”

Foxconn pays Foxconn’s contractor housing and food costs while the women work at its Foxconn plant. They make about $140 (11,500 Indian rupees).

The majority of workers in the union are aged 18 to 22 years old and originate from Tamil Nadu’s rural areas, according to the leader of a women worker’s union. According to the guidelines of the state government the average monthly wage at the plant was more than one-third higher than that for similar jobs.

According to Reuters, the 21-year old worker quit after protests. Her parents were farmers who grow rice and sugarcane. The woman said that she was looking for work in the city, just like her village counterparts and found Foxconn salaries to be good.

Scholars and activists have stated that women from villages where they are raised to be employed in Sriperumbudur factories tend to not organize. That is what made the Foxconn protests even more significant.

V. Gajendran (assistant professor, Madras School of Social Work Chennai) stated that the majority of women employed in factories near Chennai are from poor and larger families. This exposes them both to exploitation as well as reducing their ability to unite and fight for what is right.

WE WERE ALARMED’

Reuters received reports that 159 people were hospitalized due to food poisoning in one dormitory. Thiruvallur district administration last week said that another 100 women were in need of medical attention, but not being hospitalized.

The rumour that many of those who fell ill had been falsely spread later was proved untrue. Some sick workers didn’t show up at work on the second day, so others protested when they were being changed.

We were all alarmed, and talked to each other at the hostel before we decided to go out and protest. One worker told Reuters that there was not one leader.

According to the district administration, around 2000 women from Foxconn Hostels took to streets December 17. They blocked a major highway just near the factory.

Foxconn employees Reuters spoke with said that male workers from nearby factories joined a fresh protest the day after.

The police responded to the second, larger protest by striking male workers, then chasing down and striking women, including two workers, Sujata Mody (a local union leader, who interviewed workers) and Sujata Mody.

Police took away 67 female workers, a journalist from the area, their phones were confiscated, and they called their parents to warn them to bring their daughters to line. Three of those arrested, members of local unions, and a lawyer trying to assist those held told Reuters.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the details of the response by the police.

M Sudhakar (the top Kancheepuram police officer) denied beating protestors, confiscating phones, and inflicting intimidation on workers.

We strictly followed guidelines and respect the rights of all detained persons. He told Reuters that all rules had been followed.

K. Mohan (a village administrator) visited the hostel where the food poisoning happened to inspect living conditions. On Dec 16 he found that there were no safeguards in place to prevent COVID-19, he testified to police.

Mohan said that he went there to check because it could be a COVID cluster. The hostel did not have any coronavirus guidelines, so the women had to be accommodated in it.

Foxconn’s unrest was only the second incident involving Apple suppliers in India within a single year. Wistron Corp owned a plant in India that was occupied by contract workers. They allegedly refused to pay wages. This caused damage estimated at $60 million.

Apple then stated that Wistron was placed on probation, and would not give the Taiwanese contract maker new business until the company addressed how workers were treated in the factory.

Wistron claimed that the company had been working hard to fix problems at its factory including payroll systems. Wistron restored operations to the plant in January. Apple declined to comment immediately on Wistron’s situation when Reuters asked.