Is Apple really stepping up to deal with human rights violations in the supply chain?

An article written today by Ben Cook quotes a recent email by Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO:

“Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain,” Cook wrote. “We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world’s foremost authorities on safety, the environment, and fair labor. It would be easy to look for problems in fewer places and report prettier results, but those would not be the actions of a leader.”

Cooks goes on to point out that while Apple has begun a campaign of audits, it has not made significant changes to its stable of manufacturing partners as a result. Its inspections have turned up serious violations at hundreds of plants, but only 15 suppliers have been terminated since 2007.

So is Apple really putting its money where it’s mouth is?  I think not.  Other companies have come down far harder on ethical and human rights violations when it comes to punishing suppliers who fail to comply.  Take the case of Eaton Corporation.  Eaton’s CEO Alex Cutler recently spoke at NC State University and I had the opportunity to interact with him.  He happened to mention the case where it became clear that the government of a particular country was making it impossible for them to operate one of their facilities in the region, due to demands for payoffs and graft.  There were also multiple cases of human rights violations in suppliers’ facilities.  Eaton’s response?  They mothballed the facility, and walked, despite significant costs associated with doing so.

So maybe it’s time for Apple to step up to the fact that they are not really doing anything to change behaviors, and it’s time to do the right thing.   It is about changing the entire community and landscape, but it has to happen one supplier at a time….even if it requires a short-term hit in profits – something that Apple is in a position to do, apparently…