10 December, 2007
The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) has called on Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to expedite union certification of trade union, FAWUL, as workers’ representative at Firestone Rubber Plantation. The ICEM also urges calm to rubber workers in Harbel, Liberia, who are rightly frustrated by delays of government jurisprudence in granting them what they have democratically, and fairly, won.
The ICEM also calls for amnesty to arrested workers from Firestone, who are alleged to be involved in spontaneous strike actions at the plantation last week.
FAWUL is the Firestone Agriculture Workers’ Union of Liberia, a new affiliate to the ICEM, and the rightful representative for 4,700 Firestone Plantation workers. In an election marking the first time in 85 years that Firestone workers were not impeded from voting for the trade union of their choice, FAWUL won a sizeable majority of votes. Liberia’s Labor Ministry supervised the election and impaneled a special elections committee to monitor balloting.
“In the name of Free Trade Unions worldwide, we call on you to use your influence inside the Liberian government to recognise the legitimacy of the Firestone Agriculture Workers’ Union,” wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We insist that your government certify the elected leaders of FAWUL, and ensure that local management at the Firestone Plantation engages in full and meaningful collective negotiations with this union. Last week’s unfortunate strike in Harbel can only be blamed on the frustration of workers, who have been denied their legitimate voice on workplace matters for too many months now.”
The ICEM is responding to a spontaneous strike that started on Tuesday, 4 December, one which turned unruly over the next two days in Harbel. Injuries occurred to workers when military police of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Liberia National Police fired shots in the air on 6 December. A day later, Liberian police arrested 12 workers, including two leaders of FAWUL. The ICEM emphasized in the letter to President Sirleaf that leadership of FAWUL had urged workers to use only peaceful dissent in meeting both governmental delays to union certification, as well as Firestone management’s refusal to deal with the new union.
On 7 July 2007, workers overwhelmingly voted for FAWUL and its leadership team over a longstanding union that had extracted dues from workers, with Firestone’s complicity, but failed to provide representation. This rival organisation, which had been in place for decades, and Firestone managers in Liberia are now engaged in futile legal actions in order to nullify the election.
The Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia, owned by Bridgestone Corp. of Japan, is a million-acre reserve in the West African country that has become notorious for low pay and abuse of worker, including child labour practices.
The ICEM is a Global Union Federation consisting of over 400 trade unions in some 125 countries. It covers workers in the oil, gas, chemicals, mining, and processed industry sectors, which includes rubber, paper, and the manufacture of building materials.
The ICEM letter to Liberian president Sirleaf can be found here.