STOP FIRESTONE'S EXPLOITATION AND CRUELTY

Bridgestone/Firestone: Abusing workers and the environment in Liberia

Liberia, West Africa, which was founded by freed slaves from America in the 1820s, is suffering from serious poverty and unemployment. This is because a Liberian Civil War, that ended in 2003, destroyed the infrastructure and economy. In this country where people do not even have peace, a Japanese company and its US subsidiary are committing labor abuses including forced labor.

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC has had a rubber plantation in Liberia since 1926. Firestone abuses their local workers by encouraging the adult workers to bring their children to help them meet their daily quota of rubber production. This situation is against international laws including ILO Conventions, US and Liberian labor law. Because of Firestone's clear violation of the law, a legal complaint was filed in 2005 against and Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC. This lawsuit is currently ongoing.

Firestone workers are assigned a quota which takes 21 hours a day at least to complete, and if the quota is not met, the workers' already low wages are halved. Therefore, the workers have to make their families perform hard labor from early morning in order to meet the quota. The children work 12-14 hours a day and most do not have proper nutrition in their diets given the low wages.

The company stated that they forbid child labor, but in fact it knowingly assigned excessive quotas that can only be met by workers bringing their children to the plantation. Children cannot get a proper education and are forced to endure heavy physical labor in which they have to carry heavy buckets full of rubber latex many times a day. Just imagine a 10 year old child forced to carry 70 pounds of rubber using a stick and 2 pails several times a day. Because of these harsh conditions the children cannot fully grow up physically and mentally. They are being used as beasts of burden.

Furthermore, working on a rubber plantation poses many safety issues and the company has no means to protect their workers. Rubber latex can cause permanent damage on contact with the eye. Toxic pesticides are also used in production and workers are routinely exposed to harsh chemicals.

The company insists that they offer free education and medical care to workers' families. However, the schools require some expenses be paid and both systems heavily restrict the range of children who can get education. Moreover, the medical system is not adequate because its clinic's open hours are limited. Furthermore, houses provided for workers are broken-down shacks built in the 1920s, without running water or indoor toilets. These living conitions stand in stark contrast to the luxurious houses of many foreign managers, often white or Asian.

What is worse, the workers cannot get appropriate wages because they are illiterate and cannot read the pay stub for their wages, which includes reductions for housing or food deductions. This system has evolved into a cycle of three generations that have grown up on the plantation and continue to be limited in their access to education or other job opportunities aside from that of a rubber tapper.

In Liberia, where people suffer from poverty and unemployment, losing a job means a loss of any way to make money, which easily leads to starvation. This system, where generations of workers are born in the plantation and exploited from their youth, has continued for over 80 years and constitutes modern-day slavery.

International Labor Rights Forum, Institute for Policy Studies, Friends of the Earth, NAACP, TransAfrica Forum, The RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights and other US and Liberian based organizations demand that Bridgestone Firestone:

(1) take responsibility of this situation and follow the law;

(2) improve the assignment of achievable quotas for the average worker to negate the use of child laborers;

(3) increase wages to raise the standard of living of plantation workers;

(4) supply modern tools to protect workers on the job from coming into contact with harmful chemicals;

(5) redress all environmental damages as a result of its Liberian operations;

(6) stop releasing chemicals into the environment and stop exposing workers to any compounds and chemicals that are internationally recognized as most toxic;

(7) fully disclose all key project payments, contracts, and concession agreements for all Firestone projects in Liberia.

Detailed list of demands.