With more than 30 years on the front line of daily American journalism, I'm currently a staff writer with the San Jose Mercury News, covering Apple and writing people-centric business stories from Silicon Valley.
Apple makes its critics (a teeny bit) happy
Shock of shocks! Apple lately has been impressing some its critics who’ve been beating up on the company for years now over its workplace safety and environmental track record.
On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council led off with a digital attaboy, saying Apple’s been making progress with its supply-chain in China, though it cautioned that much work remains. (We presume CEO Tim Cook got the memo)
The group referred back to a blog posting earlier this year NRDC Work on Apple Computer’s Supply Chain about efforts to get Apple to clean up its act. That post talks about work done by Linda Greer, director of NRDC’s Health and Environment Program and the point person on the issue. It also linked to an interview with NPR where Linda offers her reactions to a report on factory conditions from the Fair Labor Association.
Meanwhile, Patricia Jurewicz, the director for Responsible Sourcing Network at Oakland-based As You Sow, shared with us a recent report from RAISE Hope for Congothat ranked companies on their conflict mineral policies and activities. Apple, it says, improved. You can find the report at http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/conflict-minerals-company-rankings
RAISE Hope for Congo, a campaign of the Enough Project, describes its role as trying to build “a permanent and diverse constituency of activists who will advocate for the human rights of all Congolese citizens and work towards ending the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo.’’
Apple, at least according to these grassrooters, seems to be moving in the right direction.
With more than 30 years on the front line of daily American journalism, I'm currently a staff writer with the San Jose Mercury News, covering Apple and writing people-centric business stories from Silicon Valley.
