Worker protests and widespread illness forced Apple to put iPhone factory on trial

Reuters reported that Apple has opened the Foxconn factory that makes the iPhone 12s and is conducting trial production of the iPhone 13 on a trial basis. The move comes after Apple and Foxconn determined that some worker dorms and canteens were not compliant.

Production at the plant in Sriperumbudur, India, was stopped for a week and a half. Apple placed a plant owned by Wistron Corp., another of its suppliers, on trial last year due to “turmoil,”Reuters notes, and Wistron has not received any new orders from Apple during that period.

The Foxconn plant in question has been closed since December 18th. Protests erupted this week after 256 factory workers were treated for food poisoning, including 159 who were hospitalized. At the time, local authorities described it as an “outbreak of acute diarrheal disease”.

There is no expected opening date for the plant yet, but one unnamed state government official said it might not open until January 3rd. In the meantime, approximately 17,000 factory workers will receive their salaries.

Foxconn, which is headquartered in Taiwan, is currently changing the plant’s local management team and working to improve production capacity, according to a company spokesperson.

For its part, Apple sent independent auditors to review the dorms in light of “recent concerns about food safety and living conditions,”a spokesperson said.