After employees protested a food poisoning incident, Apple supplier Foxconn’s manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Chennai will be closed for a week. According to three government officials published by Reuters, the facility, which produces iPhone 12 models, would be closed for a week. The plant seemed vacant on Tuesday, with only a few cars parked outside.
According to Reuters, the factory has been closed since Saturday and will remain closed till Sunday, according to a senior health official at Tamil Nadu’s directorate of industrial safety and health. As per the report, no employees were present at the site, which was monitored by guards and security personnel.
Following protests about food poisoning at a unit, the Superintendent of Police in Kancheepuram imposed a five-day break at the plant. The Thiruvallur district administration stated in a statement that there was an outbreak of acute diarrhoeal disease reported among the Foxconn employees. According to the report, 256 workers were treated as out-patients and 159 were admitted to the hospital, with 155 of them having since been discharged.
In the matter, many protesters were arrested on Monday for obstructing a major highway in the area. Meanwhile, Sattai Durai Murugan, a YouTuber, was also detained for disseminating fake information on Foxconn manufacturing workers in Tamil Nadu. The Youtuber claimed that poison in their cuisine had made women employees sick. Women make up the majority of Foxconn’s workforce in India.
This is the second incidence of discontent at Foxconn involving an Apple supplier facility in India in a year, according to sources. Thousands of contract employees at a Wistron Corp plant destroyed equipment and cars in December of last year. The demonstrators claimed non-payment of salaries and caused $60 million in damages.
