Apple Agrees to Audit of Its Labor Practices After Pressure from Investors

The New York Times reports:
Apple will conduct an asessment of its U.S. labor practices under an agreement with a coalition of investors that includes five New York City pension funds. The assessment will focus on whether Apple is complying with its official human rights policy as it relates to 'workers' freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States,' the company said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The audit comes amid complaints by federal regulators and employees that the company has repeatedly violated workers' labor rights as they have sought to unionize over the past year. Apple has denied the accusations. 'There's a big apparent gap between Apple's stated human rights policies regarding worker organizing, and its practices,' said Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who helped initiate the discussion with Apple on behalf of the city's public worker pension funds....

The investor coalition that pushed for the labor assessment argues that Apple's response to the union campaigns is at odds with its human rights policy because that policy commits it to respect the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which includes 'freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.'
'Apple offered few details, saying that it would conduct the assessment by the end of the year and that it would publish a report related to the assessment.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.