Indian labour officers visited a Foxconn manufacturing unit within the nation’s south this week and questioned executives concerning the firm’s hiring practices, an official mentioned, after Reuters reported that the key Apple provider has been rejecting married ladies from iPhone meeting jobs.
A five-member group of the federal authorities’s regional labour division visited the Foxconn manufacturing unit close to Chennai, in Tamil Nadu state, on July 1 and spoke to firm administrators and human sources officers, A. Narasaiah, the regional labour commissioner, instructed Reuters by phone on Wednesday.
Foxconn didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, whereas Apple didn’t handle questions from Reuters concerning the go to.
The inquiries come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities requested state officers and the workplace of the federal authorities’s Regional Chief Labour Commissioner final week to offer detailed reviews on the matter, following Reuters’ investigation into hiring practices on the manufacturing facility.
“We are collecting information, and have asked the company to submit documents like company policies, recruitment policies” in addition to proof of compliance with labour legal guidelines and data on maternity and retirement advantages, Narasaiah mentioned. “They told us they are not discriminating.”
Narasaiah mentioned Foxconn instructed the labour officers the manufacturing unit employs 41,281 individuals, together with 33,360 ladies. Of these ladies, some 2,750, or about 8%, have been married, he mentioned, citing Foxconn’s submission.
Foxconn didn’t break down the staffing figures into particular areas corresponding to iPhone meeting, the place Reuters reported the discrimination was going down, Narasaiah mentioned. He added that the labour inspectors interviewed 40 married ladies contained in the plant, who raised no issues about discrimination.
Narasaiah mentioned he at present has no plan to query Foxconn’s third-party hiring brokers, who scout for candidates and convey them to the plant for interviews.
A Reuters investigation printed final week discovered Foxconn systematically excluded married ladies from meeting jobs at its essential Indian iPhone plant on the grounds they’ve extra household obligations than their single counterparts. Foxconn HR sources and third-party hiring brokers cited household duties, being pregnant and better absenteeism as causes for not hiring married ladies.
The reporting additionally discovered that Taiwan-based Foxconn relaxes the observe of not hiring married ladies throughout high-production durations.
The story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, and calls from opposition figures and girls’s teams, together with inside PM Modi’s occasion, to analyze the matter.
Responding to the Reuters investigation, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and mentioned they’d labored to deal with the problems. All the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters on the Tamil Nadu plant, nevertheless, came about in 2023 and 2024. The firms didn’t handle these situations.
Foxconn, also called Hon Hai Precision Industry, has beforehand mentioned it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple has mentioned all its suppliers, together with Foxconn, rent married ladies and all its suppliers, together with Foxconn, rent married ladies and “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022 we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.”
Indian regulation doesn’t bar firms from discriminating in hiring primarily based on marital standing, although Apple’s and Foxconn’s insurance policies prohibit such practices of their provide chains.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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