Apple releases Apple Supplier Responsibility 2011 Progress Report

Apple is committed to driving the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base. We require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.

Suppliers commit to the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct as a condition of doing business with us. Drawing on internationally recognized standards, our Code outlines expectations covering labor and human rights, health and safety, the environment, ethics, and management commitment. Apple monitors compliance with the Code through a rigorous program of onsite factory audits, followed by corrective action plans and verification measures.

Apple’s approach to supplier responsibility extends beyond our audit program. We empower workers through training, educate factory management, address underlying issues with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and industry groups, and hold suppliers accountable for their practices. By making social responsibility fundamental to the way we do business, we ensure our suppliers take Apple’s Code as seriously as we do.

What a load of garbage. First of all...I review these things regularly, and nearly every company has their own version and demands that suppliers meet up to their version.

This is all for show. The Chinese CM’s will sign anything...they couldn’t give a rats bottom about what is really in these requirements. The only people being impacted by these are US companies that are trying to comply with the demands of their customers and regulatory requirements. It’s costing us big-time and the positive results in changing behavior are minimal. I’m sick and tired of the nanny state and its nanny corporations like Apple.

Will they commit to less than 10 Foxconn suicides per year as an acceptable standard?

The total number successful suicides of FoxConn employees was just 10 out of 13 attempts last year—from a total of 540,000 employees. That's less than 2 per 100,000. Are you aware that the national suicide rate in China in the general population for the age group that FoxConn employs is 15.05 per 100,000? To reach equivalence with the general population rate, FoxConn's suicide level would have to had reached 81 Suicides in 2010!

Do you want to reconsider your comment now?

Apple not only sent in Chief Operating Officer (now Acting CEO) Tim Cook, but also a team of Psychologist to examine the circumstances of the suicides when they were reported, as well working and living conditions at the Zenchen plant, and made specific recommendations for improvements... and then monitored the recommended changes. NO OTHER COMPANY went to such an extent, although Dell and HP did send representatives The ONLY reason you heard about the few FoxConn suicides was because of the FUD campaign being run against Apple's iPhone by Google to promote it's Android phones.

Incidentally, one of the reasons uncovered for the suicides was the generous FoxConn Life Insurance benefit and pressures that were apparently brought on young people from poor families back home to send home more money. A strange effect of the law of unintended consequences.

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