Apple announces $50-million Supplier Employee Development Fund

‘As part of the initiative, the company will work alongside supply chain partners to amplify worker voice’

Technology giant Apple on Wednesday announced a $50 million global ‘Supplier Employee Development Fund’ with an aim to expand access to learning opportunities and skills development, for supplier employees across India among others.

As part of this initiative, the company will work alongside supply chain partners to amplify worker voice. This includes supporting the worker rights programmes created by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for people in the electronics sector, and the work the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is doing to expand rights training and scale up its industry-leading responsible labour recruitment tools.

“The new education initiatives will make trainings and coursework available to supplier employees around the world, with programming initially available to individuals in the U.S., China, India, and Vietnam,” the company said, adding that by 2023, it expected more than 1,00,000 supplier employees to participate in new learning opportunities — from leadership training and technical certifications to classes on coding, robotics, and advanced manufacturing fundamentals, including green manufacturing.

The technology giant expects that tens of thousands of employees across India would be able to participate in programmes, including leadership training for local supervisors and automation training, aiding in their personal and professional development.

The fund also includes new and expanded partnerships with leading rights advocates, universities, and non-profits to drive Apple’s ongoing work to empower supplier employees and drive improvements in knowledge of and respect for workplace rights across industries, the company said in a statement.

“We put people first in everything that we do, and we’re proud to announce a new commitment to accelerate our progress and provide even more opportunities for people across our supply chain,” said Sarah Chandler, Apple’s senior director of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation.

As part of its Supplier Code of Conduct, Apple requires all suppliers to provide their employees with training on their workplace rights. To date, more than 23 million people across Apple’s global supply chain have received critical worker rights training.