Gerd Müller, German minister of international development, says Apple should take more responsibility for the wellbeing of its factory workers. The company should also focus more on the environment.
Gerd Müller, German minister of international development, says Apple should take more responsibility for the wellbeing of its factory workers. The company should also focus more on the environment.
The minister made these statements in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
According to Müller multinationals owe it to themselves to pay wages employees can support themselves and their families with. Furthermore, they should use natural resources responsibly and the manner they extract them.
Responsibility
The natural resources for materials used in smartphones, are extracted from mines in Africa and Asia. Müller says this makes the technology companies partly responsible for the safety and labour conditions of the local miners.
Müller argues Apple should set an example. ‘Apple is a global player with power and billions of dollars in profit’, he says. ‘Such a company should take responsibility’. But transparency is still lacking, Müller believes.
For the Dutch article of RTLZ, click here.
For a German article of Die Welt on the same sublject, click here.
