Apple reaches deal with investors to audit labour practices

Apple will conduct an assessment of its US labour practices under an agreement with a coalition of investors that includes five New York City pension funds.

The assessment will focus on whether Apple is complying with its official human rights policy as it relates to “workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States,” the company said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The audit comes amid complaints by federal regulators and employees that the company has repeatedly violated workers’ labour rights as they have sought to unionise over the past year. Apple has denied the accusations.