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Fake Facts and Fanboy FUD(™)

Codes of Conduct and Corporate Reporting

“My point was NOT that the other companies I mentioned do the same thing, but that while they use similar manufacturing tactics, those companies are not taking the higher road that Apple does, such as including in their contracts provisions that require better working conditions for the people who work on Apple’s products....The other companies just accept the standard contract, have their stuff cranked out, then move on, and don’t give a damn about the conditions at the factories, or the lot of the workers.” Tommy “Swordmaker” Flanagan from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3134377/posts?page=125#125

HP issued their first “Social Responsibility Report” in 2002. The CEO at the time was Carly Fiorina, not a rock-ribbed conservative but hardly a lefty progressive like the fella running Apple. All the touchy-feely stuff you’d expect in a report from Apple was actually being produced three years before Apple copied...er, produced, their first Code of Conduct and five years before Apple published their first publicly available “Supplier Audit Report”.

In addition to all the environmental, diversity and humanity affirming bullfish that you’d expect from a corporate self-assessment, the 72 page report asserts HP’s commitment to transparency.

“We value transparency and have carefully weighed how much and what type of information to report. These are tough questions, ones that every company faces. We believe transparency is important for HP – and all companies.” Hewlett-Packard, 2002 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report, p6 (1)

Transparency. Steve Jobs used that word once or twice also. Well, imagine that, and here I thought that transparency was an exclusive quality of Apple. I’m still trying to figure out, however, at what time in the history of Apple would anyone attempt to claim transparency. Apple transparency has always been an oxymoron.

In 2002 Hewlett-Packard issued their first publicly available Corporate Social Responsibility report. Another organization, however, was encouraging international corporations to annually report on their progress both in and outside of the countries which they were founded.

“We have been guided, in creating this report, by the emerging framework set forth by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a multi-stakeholder organization that has developed globally applicable guidelines for companies reporting on economic, environmental, and social performance. You will find a guide on the Table of Contents that cross-references portions of this report to the GRI framework.” Hewlett-Packard, 2002 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report, p6 (1)

Today the GRI lists over 18,000 reports from around the world (18,852 as of 2014.07.03).
http://database.globalreporting.org/

It is impossible to overestimate how massively dishonest it is to imply, as Tommy “Swordmaker” Flanagan has on numerous occasions, that Apple was the only one involved in these issues.

Under the title “Supply Chain Next Steps,” Hewlett-Packard set forth a series of goals which included, “...completing a Supply Chain Corporate Social Responsibility Policy and Supplier Code of Conduct, which will cover labor and human rights issues as well as environment, health, and safety. Our supply chain initiative includes four key elements: A clearly defined vision and direction, supported by upper-level management. Ongoing development and distribution of our policies, standards, and code of conduct. Compliance monitoring. Reporting, both to HP and to external stakeholders.” Hewlett-Packard, 2002 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report, p64 (1)

Wait, what? Compliance monitoring? I thought. But Apple. In 2002?

“In the future, we expect our suppliers to have policies governing worker health and safety and labor and human rights, to establish measurable performance targets, and to develop a plan for meeting those targets. We encourage them to adopt sound management practices including - but not limited to - working hours, working conditions, wages and benefits, minimum age and equal employment opportunities.” Hewlett-Packard, 2002 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report, p64 (1)

It seems like HP is where all of this stuff started, not in Cupertino.

Apple Lexicon
Transparency: Term used to assure that no one snoops around in the most closed company in corporate history.
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

(1) http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/global-citizenship/reporting.html