Firestone Bows; Agrees to Workers’ Incentives - Liberian Observer
By Fatoumata Fofana
MONROVIA, At long last, the Firestone Agricultural Workers’ Union of Liberia (FAWUL) and the management of the Firestone Rubber Plantations Company have reached an agreement, wherein key areas of benefits including increment in wages for the workers would be granted.
During a brief meeting on Monday, August 4, 2008 with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a delegation of the Union headed by its Secretary-General, described the ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement’, which is expected to be signed tomorrow, Wednesday, August 6, 2008, as a ’success and victory’ for workers of the Plantation.
Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh Badio disclosed this to reporters during the regular Executive Mansion’s press briefing held on Monday, August 4, 2008, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill, Monrovia.
Quoting leaders of the Union, Mr. Badio outlined wages, health and safety, education, housing, transportation, child labor, among other things, as some of the key areas covered by the agreement.
“Among the benefits, there will be a 24 percent increment in wages for daily wage workers. The increment represents an average over a three-year period. Salary workers will receive a 19.5 percent increment covering 2007 to 2009,” Mr. Badio quoted leaders of the Union as saying.
The increment would be retroactive as of 2007, meaning that workers will receive a 19-month pay increase retroactively, officials of the Union further informed the President.
Among other benefits, according to the Union, the management of Firestone would build three new high schools on the plantation.
The workers expressed gratitude to the Liberian leader for creating the conditions under which workers could freely negotiate with the management of Firestone, and for setting the standards for the welfare of workers of the country.
There had been a longstanding dispute between FAWUL and the Management of Firestone over a 37.5 percent reduction in their wages as a result of the conversion of their salaries from Liberian dollars to United States dollars in the early 1990s, when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) controlled the area under its National Patriotic Reconstruction Assembly Government (NPRAG).
The workers all along had felt that they were being cheated. Following that, a series of strikes occurred over the Union’s leadership, the last of which brought the current leadership of FAWUL to power.
However, this problem was finally put to rest by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Rodney M. Burton
In response to the gains made by those toiling on the Firestone Plantation for slave wages, I have this to say:
In 1970, I visited Liberia and, with other undergraduates, toured Firestone’s plantation, meeting a few workers (we were under close supervision), having lunch, and the like. To this day, the master-slave image of Firestone’s compound remains etched in my mind. I still have photographs of one of the workers tapping a tree for us. We were deeply affected by the scene, comparing it to our own people, who work for nothing in the south of the United States of America.
Now the labor union has taken up the cause of the workers and this is a good thing. Nevertheless, Firestone owes the workers and the people of Liberia reparations for the long years they have exploited the labor and raw material of their land; rubber being only one of many gifts of nature, the earth provides for the people of Liberia to harvest, fashion and profit.
I want to hear about workers profiting from their own raw materials and the manufacturing of rubber and its use in so many different products and by products. Wage labor is insufficient. The people who work for Firestone should have automatic stock options. In fact, they should have a percentage of Firestones profits and that of its subsidiaries. The workers on the plantation ought to have access to international market shares of products made from its rubber, especially, products earmarked for manufacture distribution and consumption in Liberia and elsewhere
To what extent will the workers wages be sufficient such that they and their families can move up and ahead? The people of Liberia and their workers should not be restricted to, or satisfied with, the miniscule increases in salary or conditions of work and benefits from Firestones, negotiated on their behalf by the union. The value of the peoples’ labor on the Firestone Plantation gives the owners a huge return on their investment. What the union has negotiated grossly undervalues (and exploits) the labor of the workers who harvest the rubber. Workers, who make it possible for so many people, not living, working or having a clue about the blood, sweat and tears that went into make it possible for others to gain huge profits and wealth. Wealth they have and did not put a finger on a tree, bucket or sap to make happen; yet, their families and communities benefit from what others have slaved and toiled for without adequate compensation for the value of the labor of the Liberians working on their own land; land and resources long ago appropriated by Firestone. That is pass history; it is time to move on with an eye on not making the same mistakes - no matter who the players are - indigenous and foreign alike - they are. For the key questions are:
(1) Will the workers be in a position to save, to invest and purchase their own homes, land, educate, and grow food?
(2) Are Liberia’s Firestone workers in a position to properly feed, cloth, nurture their children, realize their dreams and plans, and provide the means to develop themselves and their communities that will enable them to live a reasonable life?
The answers to these questions, I argue, will determine the efficacy, the sincerity, and the commitment and responsibility of both Firestone and the labor union(s) to uphold the interests of all the players involved in rubber as a source of wealth making for all.
The Struggle Continues
Rodney M. Burton
Aug 6th, 2008
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