Here are some responses to the Berkeley City Council resolution:
Commissioner Diana Bohn said, “I’m proud to serve in a City like Berkeley that acts locally and thinks
globally, and we hope to see other cities follow suit. This resolution has the potential for
helping Firestone finally realize it is in their interest to negotiate a fair
contract with their rubber workers."
Nunu Kidane of the Bay-Area based Priority Africa
Network said, “Plantation is the operative word in
Bridgestone’s exploitation of Liberian workers, it is modern day slavery with
pay of about $3 for some 21 hours worth of work, including child labor.”
Austin
Nantee, President of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of
Liberia said, “The City of Berkeley has taken a courageous step to stand with the workers of Liberia.
We thank the City Council for their solidarity and pray that Firestone is
paying attention.”
Henry
Bweh Chair of Concerned Citizens of Owens Grove, the community adjacent to
Firestone’s plantation said, “Firestone continues to ignore the pleas of the
community that lives behind its factory and depends on the river for
survival. It is exciting that a city council in the U.S.
expresses the same concerns we have voiced for so long."
Expressing
Solidarity with Firestone Corporation Rubber Workers in Liberia
From
Commissioner Bohn, December 21, 2007
WHEREAS, Berkeley Municipal Code (BMC)
Chapter 369.070, establishing the Peace and Justice Commission, states that the
Commission shall (A) Advise the Berkeley
City Council … on all matters relating to the City of Berkeley’s role in issues
of peace and social justice…including…support for human rights and
self-determination throughout the world, (and) (C) Help develop proposals for
the City Council…for actions in furtherance of the goals of peace and justice”;
and
WHEREAS, Firestone Corporation has
operated in Liberia since 1926 and has exploited workers and the environment
throughout its history, currently paying its workers $3.19 a day in base pay
for a production quota that a Firestone official acknowledged in an interview
with CNN in 2005 could take up to 21 hours of work per day to meet; thereby
forcing the workers to employ family members, including young children, to
assist them, which has led to a lawsuit against Firestone filed in 2005 by the
International Labor Rights Fund (Class Action Complaint for Injunctive Relief
& Damages) in the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Bridgestone/Firestone
Corporation sells automobile tires in the city of Berkeley, deriving great
profit due to the near slave-labor wages and exploitative conditions under
which Liberian workers toil, and the City of Berkeley procures automobiles and
trucks equipped with Bridgestone/Firestone tires, with proceeds flowing
directly or indirectly to that corporation; and Berkeley residents, having a
strong sense of social justice, do not wish their city to be a profit center
for Bridgestone/Firestone; and
WHEREAS, Firestone rubber tappers in
Liberia, all live inside a 240 square mile plantation and are dependent on the
company for housing, schools and medical facilities all of which are
inadequate; they have little access to safety equipment and limited access to
medical facilities; their backbreaking work leads to numerous injuries and
deformities the longer a tapper is employed, resulting in the release of a
report by the United Nations Mission in Liberia in 2006 in which it was stated
that “occupational safety and health standards are not observed at the
Firestone plantation” (United Nations Mission in Liberia "Human Rights in
Liberia’s Rubber Plantations: Tapping into the Future" Report of the
Commission for Africa, May, 2006), and to Firestone being given the Public Eye
award for “irresponsible corporate behavior” and “conditions approaching
slavery” at a ceremony at the World Social Forum in Switzerland; and
WHEREAS, the community outside the
plantation has also charged Firestone with dumping chemical waste into the
Farmington River, contaminating a waterway used for fishing, bathing and
drinking water, and a French laboratory recently tested water samples and found
high concentrations of ammonium, nitrate and other harmful chemicals; and
WHEREAS, fed up with the abusive
conditions and the lack of union democracy, workers have staged two work
stoppages demanding the formation of a union to represent them, elections for
which took place on June 30, 2007, but there are ominous signs indicating that
management and its allies are trying to place as many obstacles as possible in
the way of independent union leaders.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the
Peace & Justice Commission recommends that the Council of the City of
Berkeley join the International Labor Rights Forum, Friends of the Earth,
NAACP, TransAfrica Forum, The RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights and other
United States and Liberian based organizations in demanding that
Bridgestone/Firestone:
(1) Take
responsibility for this situation and follow the law;
(2) Improve
the assignment of achievable quotas for the average worker to negate the use of
child laborers;
(3) Increase
wages to raise the standard of living of plantation workers;
(4) Supply
modern tools to protect workers on the job from coming into contact with
harmful chemicals;
(5) Redress
all environmental damages as a result of its Liberian operations;
(6) Stop
releasing chemicals into the environment and stop exposing workers to any
compounds and chemicals that are internationally recognized as most toxic; and
(7) Fully
disclose all key project payments, contracts, and concession agreements for all
Firestone projects in Liberia.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of
this Resolution be sent to the International Labor Rights Fund, International
Labor Rights Forum, United Steel Workers (who will convey the information to
the Liberian Rubber Workers), and Dan Adomitis, President, Firestone Natural
Rubber.
Sources can all be found on:
