Apple recently published its Supplier Responsibility report, in which it details what it is doing across several areas to make sure that suppliers are acting responsibly. In fact, the report specifically details what Apple and its suppliers are doing to empower workers, to meet labor and human rights demands, to focus on health and safety, to be more eco-friendly and more.
Apple said that it trained more than 1.5 million workers in 2013 on their rights in the supply chain, and offered Supplier Employee Education and Development (SEED) program in 18 locations and to more than 280,000 workers. It also kept track of workweek hours for more than 1 million employees in the supply chain, to make sure that they weren't working more than 60 hours per week (it had a 95 percent compliance to that rule among its suppliers). Not surprisingly, the month with the lowest compliance rate was September, when the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launched. That was also the month when supply-chain employees were working the longest hours.
Apple also focused on making sure that supplies weren't coming from conflict zones – where wars are being fought over specific materials. Apple said that "all active, identified tantalum smelters in our supply chain were verified as conflict-free by third-party auditors." The company said it also published a list of the companies who smelt and refine tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold "so it's clear which ones have been verified as conflict-free."
In all, Apple says it conducted 451 audits across its supply chain in 2013, more than ever, and that those audits helped check up on the supply facilities where Apple products are manufactured by about 1.5 million workers. Apple's full report can be found in the source link below.
