After nearly a month of shutdown, Foxconn's iPhone contract factory in India will gradually resume work on Wednesday, but only about 500 employees will start work, according to local government officials.
The factory in the town of (Sriperumbudur), near Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, employs about 17000 people. The plant is Foxconn's only iPhone plant in India, where Foxconn has been producing iPhone 12 and is already producing iPhone 13 on a trial basis. Apple is said to have planned to authorize the factory to produce iPhone 13 from February to ease the shortage of iPhone 13 in India.
However, on December 15 last year, a large-scale food poisoning outbreak broke out at the factory. More than 150 employees had acute diarrhea after eating in the canteen and were hospitalized, while another 256 were treated in outpatient clinics. This triggered a large-scale protest at the plant. From December 18, workers at the factory began a large-scale strike and the factory began to shut down.
Since then, Apple found that the factory's dormitories and restaurants did not meet the required standards and put them on the "watch list". This means that Apple will not award new business to employees until their food and dormitory problems are resolved.
M K Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, told parliament late Friday that the plant would reopen on Wednesday, when 500 workers would start working, according to lawmakers in the region.
Government officials have said Foxconn intends to gradually resume production, but did not say when all employees will be able to return to work.
The lawmaker also said that the local government will build a dormitory facility that can accommodate tens of thousands of workers from different industries to solve the problem of the standard of dormitory and catering facilities. "the government knows very well that they do not want such incidents to happen again." He said.
Tamil Nadu, with a population of more than 70 million, is one of India's most industrialized states and was once known as the "Detroit of Asia". This is where the Indian factories of BMW, Daimler, Hyundai, Nissan and Renault are located.
