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14 July, 2008
The Eighth ICEM Steering Committee of the Bridgestone-Firestone Global Union Network met in Las Vegas, Nevada, 27-28 June, preceding the constitutional convention of the United Steelworkers (USW). The USW hosted the meeting, which was chaired by Tashiaki Hojo, President of the Japanese Rubber Workers’ Union Confederation (GOMU-RENGGO).
The conference welcomed the Network’s newest trade union affiliate, the Firestone Agricultural Workers’ Union of Liberia (FAWUL), as well as Liberian Labour Minister Samuel Kofi Woods. FAWUL won bargaining rights for 5,000 workers at Firestone Rubber Plantation in Harbel last year, bringing a legitimate and democratic voice to workers long neglected by both management and a prior union.
Particpants at the Eighth Bridgestone-Firestone Global Workers' Union Network
FAWUL President Austin Natee and General Secretary Edwin Cisco told Bridgestone-Firestone unionists about working conditions at the plantation, and their struggle to gain recognition through an internationally-monitored ballot. They also underscored the global solidarity they received from the ICEM, the USW, and the US-based Solidarity Center.
“This is a moving moment for the ICEM and to one of our newest affiliates, we applaud your heroic struggle to bring dignity and full rights to your co-workers in Liberia,” ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda told the Liberians. Warda attended the network meeting along with ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal Öskan.
Warda presented the current activities of the ICEM to the Bridgestone-Firestone network, and specifically outlined the resolutions and the work plan coming from the ICEM’s Fourth Congress in Bangkok last November. Öskan delivered a general report on global developments in the tyre and rubber industry, along with trade union activity within the industry throughout the world.
Regional and country reports then were presented, followed by a full report on industrial accidents within the Japanese-based company from around the world. Delegates then engaged in a lengthy discussion on measures to improve occupational health and safety at Bridgestone-Firestone.
Delegates attending included: Gen Tashiro and Akihiro Nagasawa, from the Japanese Bridgestone Workers’ Union; João Batista Goncalves, São Paulo Rubber Workers’ Union of Brazil (FUB); European Works Council Secretary Jesus Delgado and Eduardo Alonso, both of the Federation of Related Industries of Spain (FIA-UGT); Ron Hoover, John Sellers, and Melinda Newhouse, all from host union USW: and Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM’s Japanese Affiliates Federation (ICEM-JAF).
The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled to occur in June 2009 in Japan.