Date of publication: July 24, 2008
Source: Daily Observer
» http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/12665/Protest_Targets_Firestone.html [1]
Wednesday, July 23 from 12 noon to 1:00 pm, members of Stop Firestone Coalition held a lively demonstration in front of the offices of Public Strategies, Inc. at 607 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20005.
Public Strategies is a public relations firm which represents the Bridgestone/Firestone Tyre Company and helps deflect attention from the company's long history of exploiting workers and the environment on its rubber plantation in Liberia, according to the Coalition.
Bama Athreya, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Forum, said, “Concerned consumers and activists were protesting at Public Strategies' office yesterday because they continue to distort Firestone's record of abuse in Liberia.
“Firestone needs to immediately improve the deplorable working and living conditions of their workers in Liberia instead of spending millions of dollars on public relations."
For 82 years, according to the Coalition, Firestone had forced workers on its rubber plantation in Liberia to meet unreasonably high production quotas or risk losing their wages, which were often as low as $3 per day.
As a result, workers were left with no choice but to bring their families, including their children, to work.
These children were expected to carry buckets weighing up to 75 pounds and walked for miles without any sort of protective gear.
In addition to poor working conditions, families lived in crowded one-room shacks without running water or electricity.
The company also dumped toxic chemicals into local rivers.
Public Strategies is the public relations firm that does all of the media work for Firestone and is helping them to gloss over their exploitation of workers and the environment on their rubber plantation in Liberia, the Coalition asserts.
The Stop Firestone Coalition is an alliance of US- and Liberia-based organizations working to hold Firestone accountable for its abuse of workers' rights and destruction of the environment.