As John Tuohy’s recent article shows (”300 to lose jobs when Bridgestone Firestone shuts Noblesville plant in ‘09,” June 30), the tire company has little respect for the rights of its workers.
The Firestone Industrial Products representative even explicitly says that part of the reason for closing the plant is because it is its only unionized [...]

The AFL-CIO this Wednesday, June 25, will present its annual human rights award to thousands of Firestone rubber plantation workers in war-torn Liberia who, with strategic help from the United Steelworkers, are building a union movement against great odds.
The George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award recognizes the 4,000-member Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) [...]

Emira Woods of Foreign Policy in Focus speaks with Dave Zirin about the NFL’s partnership with Firestone on XM’s Edge of Sports Radio. Click here to listen to this audio segment.

To listen to this audio report, please click here.
The US tire manufacturer Bridgestone-Firestone has the biggest rubber plantation in the world in Liberia.
It was started more than 80 years ago. In recent years, Firestone has faced claims of child labor, poor living conditions, and environmental mismanagement.
In the U.S., The International Labor Rights Forum has a [...]

by Emira Woods, AlterNet
After 26 years of chaos and war, Liberia, on the shores of West Africa, is reemerging as a beacon of hope in a difficult region. A peaceful democratic transition ushered in Africa’s first woman president, a successful UN peacekeeping effort, and a wave of repatriates eager to build for the future.
One glaring [...]