SEND AN E-MAIL TO FIRESTONE HERE!

The majority of workers who labor as “rubber tappers” must carry two heavy buckets of raw latex weighing 75 pounds each on both ends of a stick on their back for miles.  This back-breaking system of transportation has long been left behind by other rubber production companies globally and it’s time for Firestone to stop this abuse.

Firestone workers in Liberia have faced severe abuses for 84 years, but have recently made major advances in securing their rights.  After a major organizing campaign, workers finally held the first free and fair union elections on the plantation in 2007 and signed an historic collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in 2008.  (Check out this video for more background)

The union is currently negotiating a new contract with Firestone.  This is a crucial opening for workers to finally remove Firestone’s heavy load of exploitation from their backs.

HERE ARE THREE EASY WAYS TO TAKE ACTION:
1.    Send an e-mail to Firestone here;
2.    If you use Twitter, you can spread the word by posting a Tweet like this: @BridgestoneINFO #Superbowl #Halftime sponsor #Bridgestone #Firestone: Stop exploiting workers in #Liberia! http://bit.ly/8taTuu
3.    If you are on Facebook, you can post a comment like this on Bridgestone/Firestones fan page (online here: http://www.facebook.com/BridgestoneTires): “Stop exploiting workers in Liberia! http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Firestone2010″

The three-month investigation found that a plant south-east of the capital Monrovia was responsible for high levels of orthophosphate in creeks.

The report called on Firestone to improve its waste treatment facility.

Firestone said it believed it fully complied with environmental law and its waste water was not harmful to health.

Sample testing

The Firestone plant is about 48km (30 miles) south-east of Monrovia and the creeks are a water source for tens of thousands of villagers.

Many residents had said they could no longer use the water.

The BBC’s Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia says residents in the town of Kpanyah town had been complaining of developing skin rashes on venturing into affected creeks.

The investigation team included government ministries, Firestone representatives and local residents.

Water samples were collected and tested at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Testing was also carried out in Liberia.

The tests confirmed high levels of orthophosphate.

The report called on the management of Firestone to adhere to the Environmental Protection and Management Law.

Firestone said it believed it was in full compliance with the law and with its environmental commitments to the government and that it “strongly disagreed with any characterisation to the contrary”.

It said an external consultant had found the plant’s waste water was not harmful.

Firestone said that phosphate was also not harmful to human health but that it would work to address any elevated levels.

It said it believed its water treatment system was working as designed and intended.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8332851.stm

One of Liberia’s oldest companies was over the weekend found liable of polluting waters in Kparnyan Town, Margibi County.

The company in question is the Firestone Rubber Plantation Company (FRPC), which was established in 1926, during the regime of Liberia’s 18th President, William V. S. Tubman.

Since the establishment of Firestone in 1926, workers have lived in appalling condition.

An Inter Ministerial Team headed by Planning Minister Amara Konneh was established to investigate the water samples and come up with findings, of which the rubber company was found guilty of polluting the water bodies with a chemical called orthophosphate.

The water samples which was taken on September 10, 2009 and air lifted for international testing. The results were brought into the Country on September 22, 2009 at 2:00 a.m.

Planning Minister Konneh, who headed the team and also chairman of the EPA board revealed findings of the report. “The results of the test conducted both locally and internationally, show that one of the fourteen critical parameters tested, orthophosphate, had an elevated level that is slightly above the class III water quality standard of Liberia and can associated to be the abnormality of the Ninpu Creek in Kpanyah Town Community. The other thirteen critical parameters were found to be normal. As protocol dictates, the report had to be seen by all members of the inter Agency committee, and share with the president for approval before being released to the public.”

Further reading from the report, minister Konneh listed the committee ground rules conducted: 1. Firestone Plantation Company is encouraged to increase the capacity and efficiency of its waste water treatment methods to minimize effluent discharge into the wetlands; 2 Firestone is encouraged to dialogue with kpanyah Town Community on a regular basis and improve its relations with the inhabitants of its neighboring communities; 3 Firestone is also encourage to buy rubber from smallholder rubber farmers in those communities to improve their economic conditions; 4 Firestone is encouraged to partner with EPA to ensure its compliance with the environmental laws of the republic of Liberia.”

Answering to why Firestone could not be sued because they were guilty during the press conference, minister Konneh said the government could not sue Firestone or any other company, but the Kpanyah Town  Community could sue Firestone if they are not satisfy. “It is not the duty of Planning Ministry to take Firestone to court but Kpanyah town can do so if they don’t feel satisfy. The terms of reference, was to establish the fact, and the fact has been established, so it would be best for Firestone and Kpanyah Town to reconcile and work together, because kpanyah Town Community needs Firestone to buy their rubber and improve their livelihood.”

Internal Affairs Minister Ambuallai Johnson, for his part agreed with Planning Minister Konneh that it is necessary that Firestone rubber plantation and Kpanyah town Community dialogue. “We think we can resolve this issue through a dialogue, because the Kpanyah town Community will always need Firestone to transact business.

Asked as to if Firestone was too big to prosecute, Minister Johnson said no, but government is not the one who is responsible to sue but Kpanyah Town could do so.

Representatives from the Kpanyah Town Community, who were present at the conference, did not comment during the conference but told journalists after the meeting through their women leader Ms. Mai Sackor, that they were satisfy with the result that prove Firestone guilty. “We are satisfied to know that the water is pollution, but during the dialogue, we will come up with our proposal and if Firestone does not abide, we will take it to the law.”

The alleged water pollution was unearth last Year, when resident of Kparnyan’s Town and five other surrounding Towns and Villages  accused the Firestone rubber plantation of polluting their creeks and water bodies used for drinking, fishing and other means of livelihood.

When FPA visited the Kpanyah Town Community to investigate the alleged water pollution at the time, our reporters found out that two major creeks used by over 3,000 inhabitants had lost its colorless value but Firestone denied the water pollution at the time.

The Ninpu-gley creek, which means in the Bassa vernacular, “Pure water” because of its clearness is now black. Based upon the blackness of the water, inhabitants called it”Nikpey” meaning black water. The Ninpu Creek which is the largest water body was said to have been used for drinking, fishing and watering of plans, but the village dwellers had stopped using the water when it changed it color.

The reports that were carried in many local dailies at the time, claimed the President attention to form an inter agency committee headed by Planning Minister Amara Konneh to investigate and come up with findings.

http://www.frontpageafrica.com/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=10094&z=3

In August 2008, the Legislative Caucus and residents of Kpanyan Town community on the outskirts of Harbel, Margibi County complained of the pollution of their water sources and other associated environmental problems, something which was attributed to the operation of Firestone Liberia. The citizens at the time addressed their complaint to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While the EPA was studying the situation, the issue drew the attention of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who constituted the inter-agency investigation team headed by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs which also chairs the EPA Board of Directors.

Planning Minister Konneh said the first phase of the investigation consisted of the overseas testing of eight out of the fourteen parameters collected from the affected water sources surrounding Kpanyah Town.

He said in the absence of the adequate facilities to analyze the sample locally, the said samples were transported to the American University in Beirut, Lebanon by Earthtime Incorporated, a certified independent environmental evaluation firm recognized by the Liberian Government, whose services were contracted by the investigation committee.

The minister noted that during the second phase, the committee submitted the remaining six parameters for testing at the Liberia Hydrological Services, in the laboratory at the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy while the third phase on the committee’s investigation consisted of consultation with the communities withinthe alleged affected villages, including those living in Firestone’s operation site.

The Planning Minister told journalists that the result of the tests conducted by Earthtime Incorporated at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon confirmed speculation that Ninpu Creek is polluted as a result of effluent discharge from Firestone’s operations as evidence by the high level of orthophosphate concentration. The report noted that among other options to reverse the pollution of this body of water, the application of advanced waste water treatment measures such as physical, biological and chemical methods need to be considered.

Minister Konneh said Firestone is now encouraged to dialogue with the Kpanyah Town Community on a regular basis and improve its relations with the inhabitants of its neighboring communities. He said Firestone is also encouraged to buy rubber from smallholder rubber farmers in those communities to improve their economic conditions.

Meanwhile, the Firestone Management has agreed to work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in meeting those mitigating options suggested in the report. Firestone Liberia has also assured government of its willingness to work with government in creating conditions that will help to cement relations between the management and the communities’ residents; reports Timothy T. Seaklon.

http://theinquirer.com.lr/story.php?record_id=1864⊂=14

To see a PDF of the list, please click here.

For background on the list, please click here.

The International Labor Rights Forum has released a new report about labor rights abuses on the Firestone plantation in Liberia.  This report shows how Firestone has violated all of the fundamental labor rights as recognized by the International Labor Organization in its Liberia operations.  Additionally, the report explains how child labor, freedom of association and collective bargaining and discrimination connect on the plantation and need to be addressed holistically by Firestone.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEW REPORT!

The TRC report mentions the role that forced labor allegedly played in setting up Firestone’s rubber plantation when the company first came to Liberia in the 1920’s.  As the report states,

The report goes on to assert that elites in Liberia and the US government worked together to help Firestone secure an agreement with the Liberian government that allowed the company cheap access to the country’s resources and also placed Firestone in a position of significant economic and political influence over Liberia:

The power held by Firestone and the company’s close relationship with the US government was exhibited during the civil war in Liberia according to the report.  The TRC report highlights how Firestone was able to avoid sanctions on rubber that were applied to many other Liberian resources due to the role these exports played in fueling the conflict.  The report says that Firestone won this debate by utilizing its close relationship with the US Government and by making significant financial contributions to Charles Taylor in exchange for protection on the plantation:

The report notes at least one instance of these security forces being used to attack Firestone workers:

[In September 1997], Liberian police and ECOMOG soldiers assaulted a group of some 500 employees of the Firestone Plantations Company in Harbel, near Monrovia, who were demonstrating peacefully for the release of four colleagues held by the company’s security staff. Police and soldiers reportedly beat the workers with batons and gun butts, and then opened fire, injuring seven people.  (Page 188)

To read the full report which includes additional references to Firestone, please click here.

On 4 June parliamentarians called on the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare why the agency has not yet published the results of a 22 May EPA investigation into the allegations.

Firestone’s Liberia rubber concession is the second largest rubber producer in Africa and employs some 14,000 Liberians.

Reisdents of the town of Kpanyarh, just next to Firestone’s rubber plantation in Harbel, say the creek from which they fish, and drink their water in the dry season, has been contaminated with toxins.

“We used to fish and drink the water,” 67-year-old Kpanyarh resident John Powell told IRIN on a visit to the creek which runs just outside the town. He said the water became toxic in October 2008. “We can’t drink it any longer. Some of our people have already died from this.
We have drawn Firestone’s attention to our plight but they have ignored it.”

Residents are falling ill with diarrhea after drinking at the site, and at least three have died as a result of drinking the polluted water, since it first emitted toxins in October 2008, Powell said.

In mid-May on an IRIN visit to the area, acidic fumes emanating from the creek caused people’s eyes to water and made it difficult to breathe.

Mary Sackie, 49, a fisherwoman who chairs a local women’s group in the town, said she used to earn as much as US$10 a day from fishing in the river but since it became polluted she has given this up and does petty trade instead.

“[Fishing] is how we used to feed our families, but since the water got polluted life is very unbearable,” Sackie said. “All the fish died… even our wells are now affected. We lack good drinking water.”

After receiving complaints from residents the EPA sent a team of environmental experts to the site, according to EPA Director Jerome Nyenkan.

“It was established that many creeks are polluted and they could no longer be used by the local people.” He said EPA is “troubled” about Kpanyarh residents’ situation.

“The Environmental laws of Liberia are very clear on this. Any institution or person who discharges toxic waste and/or dangerous substances into any water body leading to the death of marine creatures or even harming people, will be fined $50,000 or subject to a jail sentence,” said Nyenkan.

Under Liberian law the person or institution responsible for the pollution must also restore resources to an appropriate standard.

In a 3 June statement sent to IRIN Firestone Rubber said: “Firestone Liberia is committed to protecting the health and welfare of our employees, neighbours and fellow citizens of Liberia… That commitment includes our treatment of the water used in our plant.”

The operations includes a multi-million-dollar water treatment facility which was developed in collaboration with Robert Knight, a wetlands expert, according to the statement provided by Rufus Kormoh, Firestone’s Liberia spokesperson.

Since the facility was set up, tests have confirmed water quality is
“excellent”, it says.

Relations between Liberians and Firestone Rubber have been bitter for years, with a series of strikes and allegations from community members and staff of destruction of the ecosystem, unbearable living and working conditions and child labour. Communities have also charged that the company has reneged on its corporate social responsibilities.

In August 2008 the Firestone Agricultural Workers’ Union of Liberia negotiated a new labour agreement with the company, which calls for improved wages, health and safety and housing and education standards.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84712

The nation’s first major foreign investment, Firestone, has often stood accused of inflicting deadly injury to the human person. From charges of forced labor, bad labor practices to bad investment practices, the world’s once biggest rubber plantation hardly spends a single day of its 83 years of business in the country without inflicting one unbearable pain or another upon ordinary Liberians. Despite an avalanche of tears and protests, Firestone’s “cruelty”, as others describe it is not getting any better. Even now, citizens in Firestone-held areas are not ceasing their lamentations for what they consider the company’s “toxic-driven massacre” taking place on the daily basis, with casualty figures prominently high amongst women and children. Though the Company invariably denies these allegations, a weekend reportorial tour by Editor-In-Chief J. Lyndon Ponnie found unbearable environmental and health situations for which a Liberian civil society group, Green Advocates, is threatening a law suit.

In the last couple of months, Firestone has issued a horde of advertisements painting the picture of improving its social service delivery and other corporate commitments to its employees who have long survived a degrading human condition under draconian labor practices.

The apparent avert-bearing brags of the world’s leading rubber company come since its advent 1926, about 83 years ago, a period characterized only by the exportation of latex.

Besides charges of bad labor practice, forced labor and other inhuman corporate policies, for it has faced various civil tribunals, Firestone has also come under serious criticism for environmental degradation, particularly caused by toxic liquids that its latex-purification machinery spews and inundates into the Farmington River.

A suit against Firestone has been lingering in the United States of America, the origin of the Company.

After environmental groups including Green Advocates mounted pressure on the company to halt the dumping of toxic waste into nearby communities, Firestone promised to cleanup the area.

But just one year later, Firestone has diverted its toxic waste this time causing damage to the various streams in and around its operational area.

Now the citizens of one of the several villages affected by toxic waters, Kpanyan Town, have alarmed, stating that toxic contents being diverted into their creeks by Firestone, is causing sicknesses that often lead to death.

The citizens are petitioning the Environmental Lawyers of Liberia, Green Advocates, to represent their interest in stopping Firestone from “Killing them”.

During a tour of the affected areas including Division 45, a team of journalists that was taken to the area by representatives of Kpanyan and Green Advocates, were confronted with the pollution and its toxic effect.

The hazard created by the Firestone toxic in the communities is so severe that one does not have to be an environmental expert to see and feel the damage done by Firestone.

The team of journalists that visited the area over the weekend had to quickly leave Division 45 due to effect of toxic wastes flowing through the pipes and pouring into the streams.

Some of the journalists began experiencing the impact, including respiratory difficulties and running noses.

Dan Adomitis, an official of Firestone sometimes ago told a US media institution that Firestone is currently making a substantial investment to construct a new wastewater treatment plant to ensure that any water discharged from its operations will be re-routed away from the Farmington River, through equalization and clarification tanks, and into constructed wetlands for treatment.

This project, he said, was under construction and would meet the environmental standards for water quality in the United States or any other developed country.

Adomitis also stated that Firestone was committed to protecting the health and welfare of its employees.

Firestone Liberia, he said, uses common fertilizers and other products to nurture the trees. These products, according to him are used in a safe and effective manner.

“We will continue to operate in a manner that focuses on and improves the safety and health of our employees and our Liberian neighbors,” the Firestone official said.

The International Labor Rights Fund has filed a lawsuit against the Firestone Natural Rubber Co., but Adomitis said the fact of a filing does not mean that the claims contained in a lawsuit are truthful or accurate.

Dave Zirin of the International Labor Rights Fund in reaction to the Firestone official said official policy of the company doesn’t match plantation reality. Zirin said it’s on the environment that Adomitis really tips his hand. He said Firestone’s wastewater treatment plant comes after 81 years of dumping toxic waste into rivers used by the Liberian people for bathing, fishing and drinking.

“Now the area around the Farmington River is home to a host of health problems. The meticulously documented truth is that toxic-waste dumping has been regular practice for years,” he said.

The fact that the Liberian Environmental Protection Agency–a government organization–cited Firestone is particularly damning, given the very sweet relationship between Firestone and the government.

He indicated that Firestone was not just polluting the environment, but was also engaged in abusing child labor. Far from unfounded allegations, affidavits are readily available from child laborers who toiled on the Firestone plantation.

Latest discovery of pipes pumping toxic waste into streams being used by residents in and around the plantation for drinking has reawaken the allegation against the American company of not just destroying the waters of Liberia, but causing damage to the soil that is being toiled by the residents of the area for survival. It is not clear whether Firestone obtained permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to divert its waste into the stream in Division 45. EPA officials could not readily be contacted.

An elder of Kpanyan Town, Wilfred Davies, expressed rage for Firestone gross disregard for the residents of the area.

Davies told a visiting team of journalists that Kpanyan Town existed before Firestone came to Liberia in 1926.

He said, “We called you here to see the suffering we are going through in the hands of Firestone.”

Wilfred Davies indicated that after several complaints Firestone managed to build a few hand pumps in the area to substitute for the damage it caused to their drinking water.

The town elder said when the officials of Firestone went to dedicate the hand pumps, they could not even drink the water from the pumps because, apparently, they were not sure the water they were providing the villagers was safe for human consumption.

He said the residents have also refused to drink it due to the proximity to the contaminated streams.

Elder Davies narrated that three persons died months ago allegedly after drinking from the creeks. He also said others are still sick from drinking the polluted water.

“This is a complete massacre,” he said. “We want the world to know that massacres are ongoing on in our villages, not from guns but from Firestone-polluted streams.”

In Ma Zoe Town one of the villages comprising Kpanyan Town, a female resident, Tenneh Gbutuah, showed her teenage daughter who she said is suffering from continuous running stomach from drinking the water from the area.

She said, “Firestone only came here to kill us while our government is only watching the show.”

She called on Government to act and to act quickly or it will be too late.

She said something must be done to stop Firestone’s aggression against poor and defenseless people.

The Chief Campaigner of Green Advocates, Alfred Brownell, said he had gone to the area to see and know the problems of the affected residents.

Brownell said his group has been battling Firestone to ensure the right of the people to conductive environmental conditions.

He expressed disappointment over the fact that Firestone, which had agreed to divert toxic wastes from Farmington and clean up the waters, has again chosen to divert their killer wastes into the streams which thousands of villagers rely on for survival.

He said his organization is working to determine the fullness of the claims of the villagers after which he would pursue litigation against Firestone in the interest of the impoverished people.

“How can a company dump its wastes on the poor villagers in such an unsavory condition,” he alarmed.

http://www.publicagendanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=972:were-dying-from-toxic-waters&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=2