Apple creates academic advisory board to oversee its Supplier Responsibility program
As part of Apple's ongoing efforts to improve labor practices in its supply chain, the company recently formed an academic advisory board to oversee its Supplier Responsibility program.
The academic advisory board, which is an all-volunteer group, will be comprised of eight professors from renowned US universities and chaired by Brown University Professor Richard Locke.
The Watson Institute reports that the advisory board will make recommendations about Apple's current practices and commission new research with the intent of improving labor practices and working conditions not just in regards to Apple but across the board.
Locke hopes that the board will shape the practices of Apple and its suppliers so that the millions of employees involved in Apple's supply chain work under safe and fair conditions, in which "they are paid living wages, work within the legal work hour regimes, [and] work in environments that are safe and where they can express their rights as citizens.
While Apple has taken a lot of heat in the media over its labor practices, the company, especially with Tim Cook at the helm, now appears to be a lot more focused and transparent about its efforts to improve the working conditions of the folks who manufacture its products.
