Shareholders doubt Apple's civil rights stance, call for investigation

The US SEC has allowed a shareholder proposal concerning Apple's alleged use of concealment clauses and non-disclosure agreements, but now a separate group wants more.

According to MarketWatch, a group of three shareholders including SOC Investment Group, have filed proposals that are follow allegations of staff harassment. It is also reported that the proposals include an audit of the company's own racial inequality policies, as distinct from its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.

"It is unclear how Apple plans to address racial inequality in its workforce," says the proposal, as seen by MarketWatch. "Apple currently has no Hispanics and only one Black member on its executive team."

"[Apple is] spending money on racial and mostly philanthropic initiatives and don't really address the company's own policies," SOC executive director Dieter Waizenegger, told MarketWatch. "The chief diversity officer is not in the C-suite [a term for the most important people in a firm], and there's a really low percentage of Black officers in the company. Whatever the company's doing, it seems like there's a gap."

Apple's own diversity report says that in 2020, Apple's leadership was 4% Black and 8% Hispanic. This is up from 2014, when Apple's leadership was 3% Black and 6% Hispanic.

Overall, the tech workforce's percentages haven't changed much. In 2014, the tech workers were 6% Black, and 7% Hispanic. In 2020, the Hispanic percentage increased to 8%, with no change in the Black representation.

"Given the importance of gender and racial equality, having this level of review is not only appropriate but highly beneficial," Trillium's Chief Advocacy Officer Jonas Kron said.

Apple told MarketWatch that it had no comment on the proposal. Separately, the publication says that whistleblower Cher Scarlett claimed that, "Apple's behavior is not reflective of the mission and values they portray to their shareholders and the public."

SOC Investment Group owns 21.9 million shares of the company. Other contributors to the filing include Trillium Asset Management who say that they have over one million shares, and the Service Employees International Union holds a large stake in the company, with the exact number of shares unknown.