It's good that this issue is getting attention, but the FLA is thought by many activists to be an industry-controlled whitewashing group. That's why they formed the ACTUALLY independent Workers Rights Consortium as an alternative.

@1, in honor of that spirit I hereby announce I have become the first "Participating Commenter" to join the influential group I have just formed, "Gloomy Gus Kind and Loving", dedicated to fooling people into thinking I might be less of an asshole than I am.

@1,2 - Yeah, the FLA might not be the ideal completely independent watchdog, but it's hard to argue that all of this isn't pretty positive, and that Apple is putting out a serious effort here. Listen to the TAL show, read the supporting materials they link to on their site, there's clearly real, demonstrable progress being made. It's not just a PR stunt.

Hard to see how TAL wasn't a major influence on this decision.

"Apple also released their "Supplier Responsibility Report" today, which is the company's own analysis of the labor practices in their supply chain. For the first time their report also includes a list of Apple's top suppliers. This is crucial, since in the past it was very difficult for anyone to fully check their assertions without knowing which companies were involved."

To be clear, the report doesn't help one do that, because they still aren't connecting the violations to the specific suppliers. Without that information, it's impossible to hold the suppliers truly responsible.

@2 - I would like to be a trustee of such a group, in which the Trustees are hereby vested with the general powers to all such things as may be necessary or conducive to redefining the term "asshole" in such a way to exonerate all Trustees and Participating Members from unsanctioned (i.e. "outside") definitions of said term.

At least discussing it publicly is a step in the right direction, I guess?

I wouldn't expect these reports to drill down in any further detail matching components to suppliers—they're a premium brand, not an OEM. It's not like it's impossible to figure out which Apple monitors uses the same panels as a particular Dell monitor, for example, but it's probably not information Apple would like to advertise themselves.

Apple admits to using child labor
We should rush to Apple's defense in order to defend our menagerie of iPhones and iPads!

"I wouldn't expect these reports to drill down in any further detail matching components to suppliers—they're a premium brand, not an OEM. It's not like it's impossible to figure out which Apple monitors uses the same panels as a particular Dell monitor, for example, but it's probably not information Apple would like to advertise themselves."

I'm not talking about the components--I'm saying that their reports about violations still don't specify where the violations happen, so then no one can do any follow-up or verification.

"we exported those jobs overseas, and we didn't send the protections [that we fought for] with them, and it's not right."

Shame on them and their overpriced paperweights.

The FLA is independent watchdoggery light to be sure. Pre-announced inspections are no better than no inspections imho.