[wagglebee]

If there is any merit to this, it is a disgrace.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Considering the nature of it and who filed the suit I doubt it has merit. Sounds like another lawyer shakedown just for money.

[IronJack]

Tire rubber is butadiene -- synthetic. It does not come from rubber trees.

Nice try.

[ozzymandus]

Yeah, sure. What's the average wage in Liberia?

[Clintonfatigued]

"The Japanese company, with North American headquarters in Nashville, Tenn"

Firestone is owned by the Japanese? Good grief, isn't anything owned by Americans anymore?

As for the slavery charges, if they're true, the company should be boycotted.

[Chode]

forced to work by the coercion of poverty... well DUH!!! WHO ISN'T???

[blam]

These plantations were started in Africa during WW2 as an alternative to Asian rubber plantations which the Japanese overran. Natural rubber is originally from South America.

Apparently, all our tires still contain some natural rubber.

[the Real fifi]

I'm sure this a Soros funded leftist group whose Fenton Communications written presser was just carried as written with no checking by anyone. (Want a little Alar with your apple?)

[Rembrandt]

I used to work in a 3rd world country. Yes, the people work hard but so do the expatriots, normally 6 days per week. The avg wage among the private sector in most 3rd world countries is $30 - $50 per month but working for a foreign owned company, the avg wage is at least $100 per month. In the private sector unemployment is rampant, typically 40% or more. People who have jobs don't necessarily like all the conditions or the hours but it sure beats not having a job just as having food beats not having food.

So, go ahead and criticize these foreign owned companies but ask the workers if they want to have a job next week.

[Buddy B]

Treading on Liberia - Is Firestone paying for its faulty tires by shortchanging African workers?

David Goodman
Mother Jones Online
May/June 2001 Issue

[Lester Moore]

The suit also claims that Bridgestone Firestone imposes impossible quotas on the laborers and cuts their pay by half if the daily quotas are not met. In order to meet their quotas, laborers routinely have their minor children join them, the lawsuit claims.

The 'impossible quotas' technique is one I've experienced and seen used here in the U.S. by 3 different co.s where I've worked. After you fail to meet the impossible quota the mgt. illegally starts putting pressure on you to work thru your breaks or clock out at days end and keep working off-the-clock. That is slavery. Uncompensated time working is slavery.

[A. Pole]

The lawsuit claims workers get up at 4:30 a.m., then work 12 to 14 hours while using primitive tools to tap the rubber trees and collect raw latex. [...] Bridgestone Firestone imposes impossible quotas on the laborers and cuts their pay by half if the daily quotas are not met. In order to meet their quotas, laborers routinely have their minor children join them, [...] Laborers are paid a daily wage of $3.19 before deductions

Bump