蘋果CEO蒂姆·庫克目前正在高盛科技與網際網路大會上發言，不失時機地詢問該公司供應商的工作條件——到目前為止，這一直是一個特別熱門的話題。庫克強調了將在其網站上公佈的月度報告，然後討論了具體問題——未成年就業和其他“我們行業特有的問題”，如過度加班。他說，蘋果公司已經開始在“非常微觀的基礎上”管理工作時間，1月份的合規率為84%。

在談到對未成年人的擔憂時，庫克稱這種做法“令人憎惡”，在其供應鏈中“極其罕見”，並補充說，他最優先考慮的是徹底消除這種做法。”如果我們發現一個供應商故意**未成年勞動力，那就是解僱。”。據報道，公平勞動協會的審計工作仍在進行中。

全文如下，並明確註明非逐字記錄。

Apple takes working conditi*** very, very seriously, and we have for a very long time. Whether the workers are in Europe or Asia or the United States, we care about every worker. I've spent a lot of time in factories personally, and not just as an executive." [A paper Mill in Alabama. Aluminum in Virginia] "So we are very closely connected to the c***truction process and we understand working conditi*** on a very granular level. I realize that supply chain is complex... and the issue surrounding this is complex. But our commitment is very simple. We believe that every worker has a right to a fair and safe work environment free of discrimination where they can earn competitive wages and they can voice their concerns freely. Apple suppliers must live up to this to do business with Apple.

"We also believe that education is the great equalizer. And that is, if people are provided the skills or knowledge, they can improve their lives. We've put a lot of effort [in providing education]." [Free classes and partnered with local colleges.] "More than 60,000 employees have attended these classes, which is pretty amazing when you think about it. if you could take all these employees and move them in one location, it would be a campus larger than Arizona State [the largest public university in the US]. Many of these workers go on to earn Associate's degrees. This is a very powerful stepping stone for people looking to advance careers and their lives.

"In terms of problems we're working to fix, you can read the details on our website, but I can tell you that no one in our industry is doing more to improving working conditi*** than Apple." [C***tantly auditing, looking for problems, finding problems, fixing problems. "[Reporting everything] because we believe transparency is so very important in this area. I am so incredibly proud of the work our teams are doing in this area. They focus on the most difficult problem and they stay with them until they fix them. They're truly a model for the industry.

"Let me give you some examples because I think this is so important and topical, both in large and **all. We think the use of underage labor is abhorrent. It's extremely rare in our supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it totally. We've done that with our final assembly and are working on down the supply chain. If we find a supplier that intentionally hires underage labor it's a firing offense. We don't let anyone cut corners on safety. There's a production process that can be made safer, we seek out the foremost authorities, foremost experts, and cut out a new standard, and take that and apply it to the supply chain. We focus on the details. If there's a fire extinguisher missing from the cafeteria, then that facility doesn't pass inspection until that fire extinguisher is in place.

"Continuing to focusing on the problems endemic to our industry like excessive overtime. Our code of conduct has a cap of 60 hours per work week, but we've c***istently found violati*** to this code over the course of our time. So the beginning of this year, we announced that we're determined to drive widespread change and we've begun to manage working hours at a very micro basis. An example, in January, we collected weekly data on over a half million workers in our supply chain, and we had 84 percent compliant. This is significantly improved from the past, but we can do better. And we're taking the unprecedented step of reporting this monthly on our website so that it's transparent to everyone what we're doing. As you probably know, the Fair Labor Association began a major audit at our request. We started working with the FLA ... and just in January, we were the first tech company ever admitted to their association. The audit they're conducting is probably the most detailed factory audit in the history of mass... in scale, in scope, and in transparency, and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

"We know that people have a very high expectation of Apple. We have an even higher expectation of ourselves. Our customers expect us to lead and we will continue to do so. We have the **artest and most innovative people on earth, and we put the same kind of effort and energy into supply resp***ibility as we do with our new product. That is what Apple is all about. "