Apple launches $50 million fund for supplier employee development, workers in India among first to benefit
Apple has announced a dedicated fund to help supplier employees enhance skill sets. The Cupertino-based tech giant’s $50 million supplier employee development fund will allow Apple to offer educational tools with supplier partner companies, with programming initially available in China, the US, India, and Vietnam.
Thousands of employees will benefit from the programme in India. Apple will offer them leadership training for local supervisors, automation training to gain technical expertise for not just existing technology but also future manufacturing requirements. The training will take place round the year and enable employees to add certified skills to their CVs and help advance their roles in the company’s higher rungs.
“These new initiatives build on Apple’s long-standing commitment to invest in the people in its supply chain and drive manufacturing best practices around the world,” Apple said in a blog post.
“To date, Apple’s supplier employee educational programming has reached more than 5 million people.”
By 2023, Apple aims to provide leadership training to 100,000 supplier employees apart from technical certifications on coding, robotics, and advanced manufacturing fundamentals, such as green manufacturing.
“As part of its Supplier Code of Conduct, Apple requires all suppliers to provide their employees with training on their workplace rights. To date, over 23 million people across Apple’s global supply chain have received critical worker rights training,” Apple said.
As part of the $50 million commitment, Apple is also working alongside supply chain partners to amplify worker voice, including support for worker rights programmes under the International Labour Organization for employees in the electronics sector. It is also lending support to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to expand rights trainings and scale its labour recruitment tools.
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“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,” Apple’s Senior Director of Environment and Supply Chain Innovation, Sarah Chandler, said in the blog.
“Together with rights advocates and education leaders, we are continuing to drive new innovation to support people and the planet.”