Apple Alleged For Not Promoting Racial Diversity

Apple accused of not promoting racial diversity among top exectives

The stakeholders at Apple Inc. can actually make history in the coming years by making up their mind regarding the firm being forced to increase the ratio of directors and executives that are non-white but conducting a vote which the company is trying to squelch.

An investor has submitted a resolution who resides in London and New York claiming that the company now needs to have a lot more people of color on high level positions to ensure diversity at the company. The tech behemoth has acknowledged the Securities and Exchange Commission that at this point of time; the company does not need to have the resolution in its own proxy material since it will “micromanage” the recruitment process. The iPhone maker has been treying its best to attract the minorities, however, “the company has no power to ensure that its recruits will accept offers.”

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance letter released on December 11, that the agencies do not comply to the approach of AAPL. However, it is on the company to decide if they want to bring this issue for a vote during the annual meeting scheduled somewhere in 2016. It is their choice thus they have the liberty of not including the matter in the proxy since it could result in an enforcement action by the authority.

So far the SEC has not commented on the possibility of the proxy and Apple has not responded to the phone calls and emails by various analytical firms.

The proposal to come up with an “accelerated recruitment policy” was put forward by Antonio Avian Maldonado II in September. He is the owner of 645 Apple stocks and the creative director at Insignia Entertainment. Mr. Maldonado was embarrassed when he was watching the photographs of the directors since his teenage son commented that almost everyone was white.

according to him, the board is “a little bit too vanilla,”

The board is “a little bit too vanilla,” said Maldonado. He now wants to nudge them so that the function in an efficient manner. He is satisfied by the response of the SEC, he added, “proves I’ve been saying something correct.”

The company is still not serious about the issue which astonishes him. It is something quite achievable but still the company does not want to do so. Diversity is one of the most debated problems in the Silicon Valley and many activists have spoken for the rights of women and minorities.