Apple today released its 16th annual People and Environment in Our Supply Chain report. Previously known as the Supplier Responsibility report, the document details how Apple and its suppliers are supporting people across the company's supply chain, transitioning to clean energy, and investing in innovative technologies.
Apple also announced a new $50 million Supplier Employee Development Fund that the company said will expand access to learning opportunities and skills development for people across its supply chain. Apple said the fund also includes new and expanded partnerships with rights advocates, universities, and non-profit organizations, including the International Organization for Migration and the International Labor Organization.
Apple said the new educational programming will be initially available to supplier employees in the United States, China, India, and Vietnam. By 2023, Apple said it expects more than 100,000 supplier employees to participate in new learning opportunities, ranging from leadership training and technical certifications to classes on coding, robotics, and advanced manufacturing fundamentals, including green manufacturing.
"We put people first in everything that we do, and we're proud to announce a new commitment to accelerate our progress and provide even more opportunities for people across our supply chain," said Sarah Chandler, Apple's senior director of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation. "Together with rights advocates and education leaders, we are continuing to drive new innovation to support people and the planet."
Top Rated Comments
If they put people first they would employ them rather than use loopholes to have them provide labor with none of the rights of an employee.
Their revenue per number of employees ratio is completely lopsided.
I get tired of repeating my same story as I have in other threads, but I was put to work for Apple through a disability agency in my state. I was trained by Apple—training I had to pay for. Apple paid nothing into Social Security payroll tax because they have you incorporate yourself as a corporation of one and then subcontract out to your corporation and you are an employee of yourself, despite the fact that you use their systems and work alongside all their other AppleCare employees and contractors. You are the "face" of Apple and yet have no official association with them. At the time I did this there were about 12 large corporations in the US contracted for AppleCare and Apple Sales in the US. All were pitted against each other with impossible metrics. And then those corporations had subcontractors as well. Apple did have its own internal AppleCare employees, as well, who got benefits and had employee rights. But you weren't allowed to transfer from contract status to employee status. In fact you weren't even allowed to talk to Apple. You have no labor rights. It's like you're a carpenter building a deck for someone. Except you use the homeowner's tools, the homeowner tells you how to build the deck, gives you constant feedback, and you work for the homeowner's customers, and there are thousands of you working for the homeowner. In short, it's nothing like building a deck for someone, but they use the labor laws (or lack of them) like it is. I could go on, but I've repeated this ad nauseam so many times.
It's basically Uber but worse because with Uber there is one group of people who at least know what's going on with each other. This is like if Uber secretly had 12 different companies that competed against each other providing the exact same Uber service but with different names so they didn't know they were competing with each other within the same company and each of the 12 companies had even more subcontractors and they were all pitted against each other on price, but despite being 12 different companies it was all Uber service.
I shouldn't write as I'm falling asleep, but I get tired of Apple's BS.
Instead of "investing" $50 million, pay the GD Social Security payroll tax you're avoiding on the non-employees who are doing the *exact* work of employees.
Edit:
The last time one of these reports came out, I let Apple know what I thought. And I got no response.
Their supplier feedback web-site is now a 404:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/supplierresponsibility.html
It’s funny you mention that. All “western” factories have forced diversity. Try to find a “minority” in an “eastern“ facility.
Not everything Apple comes from China.