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Liberia’s Firestone Rubber Workers Win a Union Voice |
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For the first time in 81 years, the more than 4,000 workers at a Bridgestone Firestone-owned rubber plantation in Liberia now are in control of their own union. In late December, the Liberian Supreme Court ruled the July election that threw out the officials of the longtime company-controlled union was a legitimate election.
International election observers, including the United Steelworkers (USW) and the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, certified the election but a small group of officials from the discredited company union challenged the results.
While the case was before the court, Firestone refused to bargain with the union, and on Dec. 6, the workers staged a strike demanding recognition of their union. Austin Nantee, the newly elected president of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), says:
The Firestone workers are jubilant and are steadfast in their commitment. The workers themselves have realized their power and are looking forward to carving out a new collective bargaining agreement with the company.
Says USW President Leo Gerard:
This ruling is a landmark victory for democratic and independent unions and provides Firestone workers with an opportunity to bargain with management to obtain much-needed improvements in wages, health care, safety and educational opportunities.
The USW calls on Firestone to accept the results of the election and to begin the process of working with the union to achieve a fair agreement that rewards and respects the work of Liberian rubber workers.
The USW, which represents Bridgestone Firestone workers in the United States, has supported the Liberian workers for the past two years through training programs, workshops and education in partnership with the Solidarity Center.
The USW and the Solidarity Center found horrid living conditions on the plantation. Workers at the plantation earn a little more than $3 a day, and then only if they meet a burdensome quota. Workers are forced to carry heavy loads of rubber in metal pails on their backs and walk for miles to weighing stations. They live in shacks with no electricity, no running water or sanitary bathroom facilities. Their children have no access to a high school education.
3 Comments
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Please supply a link where we can directly send money to this Union! I support their struggle, I just wish I could support them directly…
I realize that my Union PAC money (to which I contribute through automatic deduction), supports these folks, but I’d like to do more.
God Bless the AFL-CIO and my local (Branch 9 NALC) for supporting these workers and their families.
And thank God I have the common sense to join together with my fellow workers to work together - Gung Ho !
Ric and anyone else who might want to make a donation.
The Steelworkers don’t have a direct link for donations. But if you wish to make a contribution to the Liberian workers, they suggest you make a check out to United Steelworkers and in the memo line you can note it is for the Liberian Firestone workers and they will make sure the money goes directly to the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia.
You can send that to (you might want to include a note):
Fred Redmond, International Vice President (Human Affairs)
United Steelworkers
Five Gateway Center
Pittsburgh, Pa.
15222
Thank you for the excellent ongoing coverage of this campaign — and congratulations to the Firestone workers on this major victory! Don’t forget that the campaign for workers’ rights on the Firestone plantation in Liberia isn’t over yet. Folks can check out the great work that the Steelworkers are doing to support the Liberian workers as well as the Stop Firestone coalition (http://www.StopFirestone.org). We need folks to get involved as the union hopefully starts to negotiate a new CBA.