Meet Liberian labor leaders in DC TONIGHT!

June 26, 2008

TransAfrica Forum
Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library presents a

Viewpoint Lecture
Series Discussion with 

Liberian Labor
Leaders on Economic Justice and the Rights of Workers in Liberia

WHEN:            
TONIGHT! Thursday, June 26,
2008; 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM 

WHERE: TransAfrica Forum, 1629 K Street NW, #1100 Washington, DC, 20006

Join
TransAfrica in welcoming: 

  • Mr. Austin S.
    Natee    , the President of the Firestone
    Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia
  • Mr. Edwin B.
    Cisco    , Secretary General of the
    Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL) and National Coordinator
    in Liberia for the Swedish
    Pan African Trade Union Education Project (PANAF) of the LO/TCO based in
    Sweden
  • Mr. David D.
    Sackoh     the Secretary General of the
    Forestry, Logging and Industrial Workers' Union of Liberia and the Director for
    Education and Information at the Liberia Labor Congress (LLC), the labor
    federation in Liberia.
  • Ms. Oretha D.
    Garway, the Vice President of the
    Forestry, Logging and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia

Background: The
living and working conditions at the Firestone Rubber Plantation, one of the
world’s largest rubber plantations, are brutal, with management routinely
violating basic human rights. Rubber tappers work 14-hour days to meet
impossible production quotas, which require them to tap 750 rubber trees and to
accumulate 150 pounds of latex daily. Pay amounts to little more than $3 a day
and a monthly 100-pound bag of subsidized rice if quotas are met. Tappers walk
for miles with more than 75 pounds of rubber in metal buckets on their backs,
and the company fails to provide them with basic safety
equipment.

On July 7, 2007, for the first time
in the company’s 82-year existence in Liberia, the more than 4,000 workers
at the Firestone Rubber Plantation Company elected union leaders in a free and
fair election.   International observers, including representatives of the
United Steelworkers (USW) and the Solidarity Center of the AFL-CIO monitored the
election at the invitation of an Ad Hoc Election Commission created by the
Liberian government. International civil society—trade
unions, labor rights groups, environmental groups, think tanks, and Africanist
organizations—supported FAWUL’s struggle to organize and support justice for
Liberian Firestone workers in a true example of international solidarity.

TransAfrica
Forum’s Viewpoint Lecture Series: Perspectives from Africa and the Diaspora
undertakes in-depth examinations of contemporary issues integral to an informed
appreciation for the political and socioeconomic fabric of Africa and the Diaspora. For more information call
202.223.1960 ext. 137 or email info [at] transafricaforum.org.

Issues: 

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