The Apple way to make products: a response to Apple’s 10th ‘supplier responsibility progress report’

Apple is among the world’s largest companies and has a supply chain to match, but does its claim to be strict on supplier labour standards hold water?

Apple released its 10th Supplier Responsibility Progress Report this March. “There’s a right way to make products”, Apple proclaims. “It starts with the rights of the people who make them.”1 Currently Apple has 346 suppliers in China alone, more than those in Japan (126), the United States (69), Taiwan (41), Korea (28), Malaysia (23), Thailand (19), the Philippines (19), and Vietnam (18) put together2. Are Chinese workers enjoying their rights in Apple’s supply chain? What responsibility does Apple have to the Chinese workers who make its products?

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Silence in Times of Transition

Photo credit: olga martin

Dr. Olga Martin-Ortega and Dr. Rosa Ana Alija-Fernandez present their work on impunity and transition in Spain in the workshop "Silence in Times of Transition" at the University of Edinburgh on 8th April 2016.

(Pictured L-R : Henry Reedwood from War Crimes Department at King's College London, Dr. Chery Lawther from Queens University in Belfast, Dr. Olga Martin-Ortega from University of Greenwich and Dr. Rosa Ana Alija-Fernandez)
 

Campaign gets TFL financial backing

A campaign to improve life for low-paid workers in the global electronics industry, led by the University of Greenwich, has received financial backing from Transport for London. 

The university's School of Law has been working for three years to bring the working conditions for millions of workers in the electronics supply chain to international attention. Excessive working hours, forced overtime, discrimination, punitive rules and extremely low wages in countries including China, the Philippines and Mexico, are among the practices its investigations have revealed. High-risk or unsafe working conditions are commonplace, including a lack of safety precautions for the use of hazardous substances.

Now Transport for London has announced it is providing €60,000 per year in support of the research. This will help fund ElectronicsWatch, a group set up by the university and its partners to help large companies and 'public buyers' to understand and support the rights of workers in the supply chain, and create a market for responsibly procured goods.

Dr Olga Martin-Ortega, leader at the BHRE, says: "The backing of Transport for London is hugely significant. It gives great momentum to our research, which ultimately seeks to improve working conditions. We aim to ensure that all involved – states, companies and individuals – live up to their responsibility to respect human rights and human dignity in manufacturing the products we consume.

Read full story on http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/news/articles/2016/a3617-law-and-tfl