The upcoming release of the labor audit for one of Apple's largest suppliers is the latest sign of the pressure U.S. companies are under to improve conditions in overseas factories.
Apple says the audit report will be released in the next "couple of weeks" in partnership with the Washington, D.C.-based Fair Labor Association. It will disclose any labor and wage violations and lay out steps to address working conditions and other issues at Foxconn Technology, whose Chinese factories make the iconic iPad. Other major Apple suppliers will also be audited in coming months by FLA.
Separately, Apple is working with the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs and the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council to conduct independent environmental reviews of at least two suppliers' factories in China, the environmental groups say.
No technology firms have announced similar third-party reviews. Yet analysts say Apple's initiatives are accelerating a trend in the electronics industry to make suppliers more accountable for working conditions in their factories.
Apple's moves are going to "validate and increase the budget (that companies have for monitoring suppliers) at a time when companies might be reviewing budgets," says Rachelle Jackson, senior director of sustainability practices at UL Responsible Sourcing in Los Angeles. "There are some companies who think they can do the minimum and just stay under the radar. This is going to make companies think twice."
Other technology companies have stepped up their efforts to raise labor and environmental standards in their supply chains in recent years.
Hewlett-Packard, for instance, says it was the first in the electronics industry to publish a list of its suppliers in 2008. Apple followed suit earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Philips, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have teamed up with the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative to get factory employees and management in China to work together to identify labor issues and figure out how to solve them.
The technology industry's growing scrutiny of its supply chain mirrors a movement that gained traction in the 1990s in the apparel and footwear industry amid criticism of underage labor or harsh working conditions at Nike and Reebok factories.
Over the years, the debate about labor and wage issues at overseas factories spread from apparel and footwear companies to electronics giants as a growing number of industries outsourced labor to developing countries, including China.
Nike no longer relies on factory audits alone, but tries to tackle underlying issues such as why toxic chemicals are used at factories and why workers are logging so many overtime hours.
"At the end of the day, (it's) not how well we police and find the issues, but how well we create the solutions that will avoid the problems," says Hannah Jones, Nike's vice president of sustainable business and innovation.
The question is how long it will take the electronics industry to move beyond audits, and to look deep into supply chains to figure out the underlying problems, says Peter McAllister, executive director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. It is a U.K.-based organization that partners with companies and labor unions to improve factory working conditions.