Strike halts Firestone's Liberia rubber plantation

Reuters / Automotive News

Monrovia, Liberia-- A strike by workers has halted production at Bridgestone Corp's Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

"The strike is very serious...Production has come to a complete halt," Firestone Public Relations Manager Edward Padmore told Reuters in Liberia, adding that the strike had first started on Friday.

"We have asked the government to intervene. We do not know why this is going on," Padmore said.

One worker contacted by Reuters said the dispute at the 240 square-mile plantation, which has an official workforce of more than 6000 people, was about pay and conditions.

The International Labor Rights Fund filed a federal lawsuit in the United States in November alleging workers at the plantation toiled in virtual slavery, using primitive tools and methods that exposed them to dangerous chemicals.

Firestone described the allegations as outrageous and said they were not supported by the facts. It said the jobs were among the highest paid in the West African country and that its employees were represented by a union.

From Automotive News (A Crain publication)