By Nicholas Jahr | July 8, 2010
Take the long drive southwest out of the capital on one of the only paved roads in Liberia, and eventually you’ll hit one of the country’s few remaining traffic signs, announcing a fork in the road. The arrow pointing to the right is labeled simply ‘Airport.’ To the left: [...]

Every year, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) releases an Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights.  The 2008 report was released this week based on research from 2007.  The section on Liberia (which can be found below) talks further about Firestone’s rubber plantation and trade union rights.
Liberia
Population: 3,800,000 / Capital: Monrovia
ILO Core Conventions [...]

The Firestone Natural Rubber Company recently published the latest edition of it’s newsletter, Firestone Voice.  In the newsletter, Firestone lauds the new collective bargaining agreement signed the the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), a new water treatment facility and a scholarship program for students.
Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

Initial reports from the Firestone plantation raise [...]

By Ansu Konneh
Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.’s Liberian rubber plantation, one of the world’s largest, will increase workers’ pay by 19.5 percent, backdated to January last year, a union official said.
The accord, the first to be signed by Firestone with its workers in Liberia in the 80 years it has operated in the west African [...]

The United Steelworkers (USW) today hailed the signing of a landmark labor agreement between FAWUL (Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia) and Firestone. The new collective bargaining agreement covers more than 4,000 union members and provides significant gains for workers at one of the world’s largest rubber plantations.
Contract highlights include wage increases of 24 percent [...]