The widespread abuse of workers’ rights by the Firestone/Bridgestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia has been revealed in a report published by Save My Future Foundation, and Human rights activists will hold a demonstration Wednesday in Washington, DC.
The protest will be held in front of a public relations office, representing the Bridgestone/Firestone Rubber Company.
At the same time Firestone Workers’ Union and the Firestone/Bridgestone management will be negotiating in Liberia for better wages and other benefits.
The report, titled “The Heavy Load: A Demand for Fundamental Changes at the Bridgestone/Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia” among other things, accused the company of poor living conditions for rubber tappers, barriers to educational and health access, water and air pollution, and violations of workers’ rights.
Contributing, Mr. Robert Nyahn of Save My Future Foundation said, “There is time for everything, the time for exploitation and abuse is over; it is now time for Firestone to clean up the ugly and unimaginable past and begin to make fundamental changes that reflect a company committed to contributing to the growth and development of a developing country. With our hands joined together we will no longer accept this kind of evil.”
On his part, Ms. Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies said, “This groundbreaking report shows that the heaviest load in Firestone’s largest rubber operation is still being born by the women and children of Liberia.”
Ms. Woods added that after 82 years of exploitation masked by a massive public relations campaign, Firestone must be held accountable for its continued violations of worker rights and abuse of the environment. Liberian workers and future generations need good corporate neighbors. Firestone can and must do better.
Tim Newman, a child labor campaigner at the International Labor Rights Forum, said the report revealed the widespread abuse of workers’ rights on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. As the first independent and democratically elected union leaders on the plantation negotiate a new contract, it is important that Firestone take the demands of workers and their allies to heart. Eighty two years of exploitation is enough and the time is now for a new day on Firestone’s rubber plantation in Liberia.
Firestone has operated the world’s largest rubber plantation in Herbal, Liberia since 1926. As the report shows, rubber tappers have a daily production quota they must meet in order to receive their daily wage which is just over $3 a day.
The report further revealed that Firestone rubber tappers work 12 hours a day without safety equipment and that under the so-called quota system, each tapper is required to tap 750 trees per day or 1,125 trees on a double tapping day.
As a result of the unreasonably high quota, the report said workers must bring family members to work with them or hire subcontractors using their meager salaries. Additionally, workers must carry two 75-pound buckets of raw latex on sticks on their shoulders and work without protective gear. Workers live in crowded shacks without electricity, running water, or indoor latrines.
Reliable sources hinted The Liberian Journal that the report was released in the U.S. at a public event at the Institute for Policy Studies, in Washington, DC on Friday, July 18th, 2008.The event featured Edwin Cisco, Secretary General of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia, and the union representing Firestone workers in Liberia.
Mr. Edwin Cisco told the VOA that workers have had to enlist the services of their children or other family members in order to complete their daily quotas.
"What we were able to do is that we injected in our proposal that the quota be reduced because it is because of this quota that most workers have to carry their families into the field to do the work. As we speak to you, even though the company has a zero tolerance on child labor, the system still exists to the point where workers, now they are not carrying children, but they have to hire extra hand to assist them complete the quota for the day," Cisco said.
While the price of rubber is at one of its highest on the world market, Cisco said Firestone rubber tappers continue to earn 42 cents an hour or an estimated US$3.38 per day.
"In terms of wages, Firestone continues to maintain her old system to maintain the cost of production at a very, very minimum level. The last contract negotiation between the management and the union I think was in 2004. At that point the sale of a ton of rubber was at US$400. Today, the sale of a ton of rubber is selling at something like US$1,200. If we take all of that into consideration, definitely there's a need for the income of the workers to move upward," he said.
In the area of education for workers' children, Cisco said while Firestone has been able to renovate and construct additional schools, some parts of the plantation still do not have schools.
"As I speak to you, the company has taken several steps. They are now building additional schools even though there is still a need for schools in various areas of the plantation where students have to walk various miles to go to school. The school system has been pushed to high level. They have put science and computer labs. But we still feel that this needs to go all around the plantation so that every child will have the opportunity to have access to some of these facilities," he said.
He also said the workers' union has been pushing Firestone management to provide a busing system so that children whose communities have no schools can attend nearby schools.
Cisco credited the workers' successes at recent negotiations to two factors, including the involvement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government.
"One of the factors that is responsible for this is the workers' desire to come together. Once they come together, they know that something can be achieved. The other factor has to do with our own government. In the past successive governments in our country had been unconcerned about the conditions under which workers work on the plantation. But this new government under the leadership of Madame Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has shown the political will to ensure that workers' voices are heard," Cisco said.
He also praised the involvement of international labor organizations, including the United Steele Workers' Union, the American Labor Solidarity Center, the International Labor Rights Fund and others for helping to build the capacity of FAWUL.
Cisco advised workers in other countries to always come together in their effort to seek better wages and other benefits.
"What I would say is that workers must come together. Once workers come together in unity, they have the strength to move things forward because the bottom line is that these multinationals that exist all over the world, their basic interest is for their profit margin to move upward. But once they make the profit, they must ensure that workers have a fair share of it," he said.