Indian state seeks to expand work hours to woo Apple factories

Apple is planning to expand its operations in India in numerous ways, with CEO Tim Cook saying "India has such a beautiful culture and incredible energy," while visiting the country in April. "We are excited to continue our long history of supporting our customers, investing in local communities and working together to build a better future with innovation that serves humanity.” Cook was in India to officially open the first Apple store in the country, followed by a second store a few days later.

Speaking to investors in May, following the publication of the company's financial reports, Cook mentioned India more than 15 times and noted that during the first quarter of 2023, Apple recorded record sales in India - approximately $6 billion dollars. Apple’s expansion in India is often framed within the context of India seeking to overtake China as the world's main source of manufacturing, about Apple's desire to dominate the Indian smartphone market, and also amid the increasingly escalating war for technological leadership between the U.S. and China. Between the great powers and massive international corporations, there are those who are actually carrying the competition on their backs but whose story is rarely heard - the Indian workers.

Apple

20 million iPhones per year

Ever since the Covid pandemic and the subsequent closures imposed by the Chinese government on factories, Apple has been looking to diversify its production sources. China's grip is still dominant; according to Apple’s list of suppliers published recently, 151 out of all 188 factories (both those that produce parts and those that assemble products) are located in China. However, there is already a noticeable change; in 2022, Apple transferred 11 factories to Vietnam and increased the number of factories in India to 14.

Since 2014 India’s government has been seeking to become a global manufacturing giant under the Make in India initiative. The government has estimated that Apple plans to transfer a quarter of all global iPhone production to India by 2026. India is a huge country so there is also huge internal competition to attract these factories. India’s third largest city, Bangalore, located in the state of Karnataka, recently signed an agreement with Foxconn, Apple’s leading manufacturer, to establish a new iPhone manufacturing plant in a project estimated to be worth $1.59 billion. The factory is expected to start production in April 2024, and Foxconn plans to produce about 20 million devices per year. The factory is expected to produce about 50,000 additional jobs.

But the story is much more complex than that. It is a well-known practice to try and attract companies through various benefits, usually tax relief, but in the case of Karnataka, the need was greater than that, and rapid legislation was required. The amendments to labor laws were made and proposed in response to requests from within the industry, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry told The Economic Times. Among other things, it was decided to increase the number of maximum daily working hours from nine to twelve hours without overtime, to raise the working hours without a break from five hours to six hours, increase the amount of overtime working hours allowed per quarter from 75 to 144 hours, and to allow women to work night shifts.

The changes were not received lightly and the labor unions protested to prevent or at least soften some of the amendments. Similar protests have taken place in recent weeks in the neighboring and larger state of Tamil Nadu, which is the home to one of Foxconn's iPhone production plants. These protests led the government to withdraw the amendments, symbolically on May 1st - Labor Day. "The state government, in an attempt to woo multinational corporations, has indirectly tried to destroy the lives and rights of millions of workers and the oppressed," the president of the central body for labor unions in the country, All India United Trade Union Center, told local paper The Quint, adding that if the legislation had been passed, it would have destroyed workers' rights that were fought for for many years.

Overtime does not increase productivity

As of today, a similar protest in Karnataka has not borne fruit; the amendments have been passed by the parliament and are now awaiting the signature of the state governor and the President of India. But the workers have not stopped fighting. Numerous workers are demonstrating, and were recorded burning the documents of the amendments. The AIUTUC even petitioned the United Nations Labor Organization (ILO) against the legislation, claiming that the new amendments violate international labor conventions, which India has ratified, including the Hours of Work Convention and the Night Work (Women) Convention. According to the AIUTUC, the proposed amendments erase historical achievements and contradict multiple studies that have been done on the subject and which have shown that longer work hours and overtime harms the health of workers and does not increase productivity.

Many neighboring states are also trying to change existing labor laws in factories, as they are competing for the attention of companies looking to expand their operations. These companies seek maximum flexibility to manage production, including in work hours, working days, shifts and work on holidays. This dynamic is also not new for Apple and Foxconn. In China, factories were authorized to extend the working day by up to three hours in consultation with labor unions (although they are notorious for their weakness, especially in Foxconn factories), and in Vietnam, in 2022, they raised the monthly overtime limit from 40 hours to 60 hours, and the annual overtime limit from 200 hours to 300 hours.

This dynamic is similarly taking place today in the U.S, where there is a labor shortage in the manufacturing and hospitality industries, and in response, laws have been passed to eliminate or significantly weaken child labor protections and allow them to work longer hours, at night, on production lines.

Unfortunately, being caught in the middle of a competition between superpowers for the attention of an international corporation is not a good sign for social development, and is mainly about how the corporations will benefit at the expense of the employees.