In the message, first published by 9to5Mac, Cook says Apple is not “ignoring the human cost” of its supply chain, and dismisses accusations that it is complicit in worker abuse as mendacious.

“We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern,” Cook wrote. “Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.”

And for evidence of that, one need only look at Apple’s supplier-responsibility efforts. If there are problems at overseas suppliers, says Cook, no one is doing more than Apple to prevent them.

“Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain,” Cook explained. “As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.”

Which is probably true. Apple has been conducting supplier-responsibility audits and issuing reports on them for years now. And it recently became the first tech company to join the Fair Labor Association, which will serve as an independent auditor for its supply chain.

That said, there’s still a lot more to be done, and Apple could likely do it. With the $13 billion in profits it reported earlier this week, and that $97 billion in cash it’s sitting on, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

As a former Apple executive told the New York Times, “Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”

An overly simplistic argument, I suppose. The solutions to these issues are far more complex than threats over contracts. But again, more could be done. And not just by Apple. There are plenty of other big consumer electronics companies using offshore labor. And ultimately, the biggest driver of these issues isn’t Apple or HP, but our own buying habits.

In May, on the heels of a record year for industry revenue, employment at U.S. wireless carriers hit a 12-year low of 166,600, according to U.S. Labor Department figures released earlier this month. That’s about 20,000 fewer jobs than when the recession ended in June 2009 and 2,000 fewer than a year ago.

While the industry’s revenue has grown 28 percent since 2006, when wireless employment peaked at 207,000 workers, its mostly nonunion work force has shrunk about 20 percent.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

As it starts talks to replace three-year union contracts set to expire Aug. 6, Verizon wants to tie pay increases more closely to job performance, make it easier to fire workers for cause, halt pension accruals this year and require union workers to contribute to health-plan premiums.

The contracts cover 45,000 Verizon workers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Certainly it belies Apple’s rank of last in a list of 29 multinational technology companies in terms of responsiveness and transparency. Forty percent of the suppliers included in Apple’s report said this was the first time their facility had ever been reviewed for social responsibility compliance. Which is worth noting. Surely Apple isn’t the only consumer electronics company they’re working with. Hear that HP? Nokia?

Anyway…

Detailed in the report are the findings of 127 facilities audits, including core violations of Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct and Apple’s responses to them, which range from mandatory facility upgrades to the termination of business with violators (The company ended its relationship with 3 suppliers on 2010 for code violations). Sadly, Apple discovered 37 core violations in 2010, versus 17 the year before.

Also addressed, the sourcing of conflict-free “conflict minerals” like tantalum and tungsten, the n-hexane incident at Wintek and, of course, the suicides at Foxconn’s Shenzhen facility. Apple appears to have made significant headway on all three fronts, establishing a tantalum and tungsten smelter audit process, forcing Wintek to end its use of n-hexane and improve its ventilation systems and working with Foxconn to develop measures to prevent further suicides.

All good to hear, though obviously when an audit of 127 facilities turns up underage labor violations at nine facilities and hazardous chemicals at 80 more, there’s quite a bit more work to be done.

The song’s pro-labor lyrics include “Get ready to strike, get ready to walk the line” and “Protect my health care, don’t lower my wages/Realize, recognize, mobilize, stay alive” and even a shout-out to technicians who support U-verse, AT&T’s TV service.

It was co-written by Ray and Rachael Rodriguez, AT&T (T) employees who are active in the Communications Workers of America Local 6222, as well as Riley Wallace, a Toronto hip-hop artist whose stage name is Special.

Read the rest of this post

On Sunday, the company announced Elevate America, a three-year job-training effort aimed at giving people the technology skills they need to survive in the job market. Under the program, it will offer one million vouchers for Microsoft eLearning courses and certification exams, and expanded access to Microsoft-vetted technology literacy and skills training programs. “Millions of Americans don’t have the technology skills needed in today’s economy,” Pamela Passman, a Microsoft vice president, said in a statement. “Through Elevate America, we want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed.”

Well, the Microsoft (MSFT) skills they might need, anyway. Which is, obviously, in Microsoft’s best interests. The more Certified Technology Specialists it has in the market, the better.

On Sunday, the company announced Elevate America, a three-year job-training effort aimed at giving people the technology skills they need to survive in the job market. Under the program, it will offer one million vouchers for Microsoft eLearning courses and certification exams, and expanded access to Microsoft-vetted technology literacy and skills training programs. “Millions of Americans don’t have the technology skills needed in today’s economy,” Pamela Passman, a Microsoft vice president, said in a statement. “Through Elevate America, we want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed.”

Well, the Microsoft (MSFT) skills they might need, anyway. Which is, obviously, in Microsoft’s best interests. The more Certified Technology Specialists it has in the market, the better.