Apple agrees to labour law infringements at its Chinese vendors; hires FLA to conduct independent audits – Part 3

However, Apple’s timely response has been appreciated by many, especially CEO Tim Cook responded aptly to the issue. Recently the CEO issued a letter to all Apple employees today, saying:

“We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain.” The email goes on:  “We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world’s foremost authorities on safety, the environment, and fair labour. It would be easy to look for problems in fewer places and report prettier results, but those would not be the actions of a leader.”

Cook also appeared at a Goldman Sachs technology conference today and was quoted as saying, “We think that the use of underage labour is abhorrent — it’s extremely rare in our supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it.”

However, Apple’s decision to rely on the Fair Labor Association for the audits has already drawn criticism. “The FLA has a long track record of being a mouthpiece for corporations,” says Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, founder and president of SumOfUs.org. The New York Times reports today that the group was founded in 1999 by universities, non-profit groups and by companies, including Nike, that were trying to address supply chain worker conditions in the face of criticism from anti-sweatshop groups. Corporate representatives sit on the FLA’s board and companies help fund the group, though the FLA insists its inspections are independent.

Despite all the criticism, Apple’s initiative to address the issue has been welcomed by the international community. Both Dezenhall and Levick agree that the scrutiny of Apple’s labor practices presents an opportunity for the company to step up and take a leadership role in the electronics industry. If they do it well, “it will go from enterprise risk exposure to a benefit,” says Levick.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Feb 17 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.