In 1926, Firestone opened one of the world's biggest rubber plantation in Liberia, West Africa. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons buggies and other forms of wheeled transportation Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. The workers accuse the company of serious labor abuses, including exploitative child labor, which they claim amount to modern-day slavery. Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Workers specifically claim that Firestone's high daily quotas force them to employ their own children, subjecting them to grueling and dangerous work conditions. In response to the claims, the president of Firestone Natural Rubber told a CNN interviewer that "each tapper will tap about 650 trees a day, where they spend perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree. Cable News Network, usually referred to by its Initialism CNN, is a major English language Television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner " As the network pointed out, this would add up to more than 21 hours of work per day. [1]
In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) released a report detailing the state of human rights on Liberia's rubber plantations. The United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL is a peace-keeping force established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia following the resignation of Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled According to the report, Firestone managers in Liberia admitted that the company does not effectively monitor its own policy prohibiting child labor. UNMIL found that several factors contribute to the occurrence of child labor on Firestone plantations: pressure to meet company quotas, incentive to support the family financially, and lack of access to basic education. The report also noted that workers' housing provided by Firestone has not been renovated since the houses were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s.
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Alien Tort Claims Act
In 2005, "tappers" (workers who extract latex from rubber trees) on the Liberian plantation filed an Alien Tort Claims Act lawsuit against Bridgestone/Firestone. LaTeX (ˈleɪtɛ The Pará rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis) often simply called rubber tree, is a Tree belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae The Alien Tort Statute ( ATS, also called the Alien Tort Claims Act and Alien Torts Claim Act) is a Federal law of the United States
The Lawsuit relates to the following topics:
- Serious labor abuses, including exploitative child labor. Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour
Management of the plantation claim that workers are bringing their own children to work to assist them and that this is not endorsed by the plantation management.
Workers claim that management's high daily quotas force them to employ their own children as their only means of meeting quotas.
Even though Liberia does have child labor laws and Firestone has banned children from tapping trees, workers say the ban isn't enforced. The workers say the only way they can complete their daily quota is to bring their children along.
Firestone management says if children are found helping their parents, the employees are cancelled, and if necessary, disciplined. "We have very strict policies about our child labor. We do not hire anybody under 18 years of age, and we discourage parents from bringing their children to the fields with them . "[1]
Firestone requested to transfer the case to Indianapolis, Indiana from California and this request was granted in April 2006. The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union
See also
References
- ^ a b Is Bridgestone/Firestone Exploiting Liberian Workers?. The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company was founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons buggies and other forms of wheeled transportation A corporate scandal is a Scandal involving allegations of unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation Crisis management A crisis is a major unpredictable event that threatens to harm an organization and its stakeholders CNN.
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