The AFL-CIO honored the rubber workers’ union, the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), with its 2007George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award for "courage, innovation and leadership."
Winning the award gives hope to the Liberian workers, says FAWUL President Austin Natee.
"From here to Africa is 5,000 miles – for you to care about workers on a farm so many miles away is amazing," said Natee. "We will take the message back to the workers that we are not alone in this struggle."
The 4,000 workers at Liberia’s largest rubber plantation—for the first time in 82 years—are now running their own union. To gain an independent voice, the workers staged several strikes, which succeeded in getting the government of Liberia to require new elections at the Firestone Plantation. Yes, that’s its real name. During the strikes, workers were intimidated and beaten. Several were killed.
In July 2007, the workers threw out the officials of the longtime company-controlled union and elected leaders of their choice. International election observers, including the United Steelworkers (Solidarity Center , certified the election as fair, but a small group of officials from the discredited company union challenged the results. Management refused to recognize the new union leadership or engage in collective bargaining. Again the rubber workers went on strike. Again, they were beaten, disciplined and fired.
In late December, the Liberian Supreme Court ruled the July election was a legitimate election. Firestone management recognized the new union leadership after the Supreme Court decision, and negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement have begun.
Natee says the workers joined together to fight what he calls “modern-day slavery.” Rubber tappers work 14 hours a day and must tap 750 rubber trees and accumulate 150 pounds of latex daily—all for 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 140 pounds of rubber in metal buckets on their backs, and the company failed to provide them with basic safety equipment such as goggles to prevent the latex from dripping into their eyes and blinding them.
In presenting the award, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "No place on earth has that struggle (for basic human rights) been more dramatically displayed in recent years than through the extraordinary strength and courage of the working men and women of Liberia.
"With their determination, dedication and unwavering commitment to organize their own union, at one of the world’s largest rubber plantations, they—as Dr. (Martin Luther) King taught us—have bent “the moral arc of history toward justice."
Now that the union has been recognized, conditions are beginning to change, says FAWUL’s Secretary-General Edwin Cisco. Even before contract negotiations began, the company implemented some of the workers’ requests, such as providing reliable bus service for workers, scholarships for workers’ children and building modern housing for workers. But the key issues of wages and working conditions are still being negotiated.
The USW, which represents Bridgestone/Firestone Co. workers in the United States, has supported the Liberian workers for the past two years through training programs, workshops and education in partnership with the Solidarity Center.
"The workers were agitating to find a way out (of their working conditions) and at that moment the Steelworkers and the Solidarity Center came in and started trainings and assisting us to build our capacity," said Cisco. "It was a very big boost."
Oretha Garway, vice president of the Forestry, Logging and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia (FLIWUL), added, "When you are in the midst of the heat, when you are drowning and need somebody to rescue you, that was the situation and the USW, Solidarity Center and the AFL-CIO came along."
The workers also are learning firsthand the value of political action. In 2005, after the country emerged from a 14-year civil war, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia—the first woman president in Africa. Sirleaf, who was elected with strong support from workers, is leading the effort to help change working conditions in the country. Garway says workers once were beaten and arrested for speaking out about their rights, but now they are able to take their concerns to the highest levels of government.
One example of the Liberian government’s recognition of the importance of workers’ rights was the attendance of Liberia’s labor minister, Samual Kofi Woods, at the Meany-Kirkland ceremony.
FLIWUL Secretary-General David Sackoh credits the Solidarity Center and the USW with educating Liberia’s workers on the power of worker votes and for helping them build their political strength.
But the struggle is not over, Natee says, and he is calling on U.S. workers to join the Liberians in solidarity to ensure victory.
"If we join hands, once we are together, we can move mountains. United we stand, divided we fall," said Natee.
The annual Meany-Kirkland award, created in 1980 and named for the first two presidents of the AFL-CIO, recognizes outstanding examples of the international struggle for human rights through trade unions. Previous winners have included Mikhail Volynets of the Ukraine, U Maung Maung of Burma, Nancy Riche of Canada, Wellington Chibebe of Zimbabwe and Ela Bhatt, the founder of India’s Self Employed Women’s Association
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