Bloomberg reports that executives from Apple and Electronics Association lobby group, which represents the company as well as its suppliers like Foxconn, met with Tamil Nadu government officials over six months to push for more slavery-like labor conditions. They added that the changes would bring local working hours on par with the iPhone factories criticized for the harsh labor conditions, suicide nets outside buildings, etc.
Bloomberg reported that Apple requests factories to have two shifts of 12 hours each, instead of the previous three shifts where workers have an 8 hours workday.
Labor laws regression in India is rare and the country’s willingness to accommodate Apple shows how badly it wants to become an electronics manufacturing hub. The sources also told the news agency on Tuesday that Apple and its suppliers are in talks to build large working women’s hostels in and around factory complexes, which would make women able to work longer hours.
The ICEA lobby group said that the above reforms are overdue and at the heart of Make in India’s policy objectives. “It helps bring more women with safety and comfort into the work environment like never before,” the ICEA added.