Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) has put iPhone manufacturing subcontractor Foxconn (OTC: HNHPF) on probation after the squalor workers were made to live in was made public.
Reuters reporters spoke to plant workers anonymously as inspectors toured the living facilities for the primarily female workforce. Living conditions for the women of the Foxconn plant in Chennai, India, were abysmal.
Workers slept on the floor in rooms with six to thirty other women. Some workers reported dormitories without functioning toilets and spoke of generally unsanitary conditions.
"People living in the hostels always had some illness or the other; skin allergies, chest pain, food poisoning..." a worker told reporters. "We didn't make a big deal out of it because we thought it will be fixed. But now, it affected a lot of people."
The conditions at the factory would come to the attention of local authorities following a mass food poisoning incident involving more than 250 people and the subsequent protest by agitated workers. Following the incident, government inspectors dispatched to the site would later close the living facilities, citing many problems, including rats and poor drainage.
Previously, a government administrator visiting the site noted a complete lack of coronavirus pandemic protocols in the women's dormitories. However, it isn't known if this was cited as a contributing reason for the closure.
This is the second time amid the Coronavirus pandemic that Apple has had to contend with the conditions of its overseas manufacturers. In December of 2020, Taiwan-based subcontractor Wistron (OTC: WICOF) was placed on suspension following a riot by workers. The riot had been triggered by underpayment, with some workers complaining of not being paid at all.
As it did following the Bengaluru factory riot, Apple has placed Foxconn on probation until corrective actions are taken. However, Apple didn't clarify the specifics of what actions were to be taken.