Firestone Rubber & Latex Company Scandal
1900 – Firestone Tire and rubber company was founded by Harvey Firestone
1919 – firestone was incorporated in Hamilton Ontario.
1922 – On September 5th the first Canadian made tire rolled off the line.
1928 – the company build a factory in Brentford England. They also sponsored the voice of firestone on the radio in 1928.
1940’s – firestone was given a contract to produce plastic helmet liners.
1950 – Firestone, standard oil, and general motors were charged with convicted of criminal conspiracy, for being part of the great American street car scandal.
1951 – they were given a contract to make the MGM-5 Corporal missile. They were given $ 6 888 796, for the first 200 missiles.
1962 – The missile was replaced with MGM-29 Sergeant system.
1966 – NHTSA fined firestone $500 000, multiple lawsuits were settled in court. This was the largest fine ever on a U.S. company.
1970 – They had a major problem with the firestone 500 radial. (The steal belted radials started showing signs of separation of the thread at high speeds.
1977 – a recall of 400 000 tires produced at the problematic plant was initiated.
1978 – firestone recalled over 7 million Firestone 500 tires.
1979 – brought in John Nevin ex- head of Zenith Electronics, he was brought in to save the company from totally collapsing.
1988 – Firestone tire and rubber company was sold to Bridgestone company.
2005 – A case against firestone was brought by international labour rights fund
http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/stop-firestone
Firestone Rubber & Latex Company
Child Labour Scandal
Their Work Requirements
By Firestone Natural Rubber Company CEO Dan Admits’ own admission on CNN, it would take over 21 HOURS to meet the quota.
As a result, tappers are forced to bring their children and wives to work.
Children are forced to carry two 70 pound buckets of rubber on their shoulders for miles.
In addition, tappers and their children must apply toxic pesticides without protection
The workers live in cramped shacks which have not been renovated since the 1920s and lack electricity, running water and indoor bathroom.
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company has operated the world’s largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia for over 80 years.
The Key Players
Firestone brought in John Nevin, the ex-head of Zenith Electronics, as president in 1979 to save the company from total collapse
Dan Adomitis - President of Firestone Rubber and Latex Company
Charles Taylor - Formalized the area
They signed a concession agreement with the government of Liberia to lease over one million acres of land in 1926 for 6 cents per acre for a period of 99 years.
"We have very strict policies about 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. We have a program with the Ministry of Labor in Liberia to - and also the union that represents our employees -- to educate parents about why they should not bring children with them into the field. And if we see incidents of this, we will cancel those employees, and if necessary, ultimately discipline them over such issue."
Dan Adomitis said to CNN
In 2005, Firestone signed a new 37-year agreement with a transitional government in Liberia to lease the land for 50 cents per acre.
Getting Caught and the Outcome
-The International Labor Rights Fund filed an Alien Tort Claims Act case in the US District Court of California against Bridgestone alleging “Forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery” on the Firestone Plantation in Harbel, Liberia.
-In June 2007, the judge in the lawsuit against Firestone ruled against Firestone's motion to dismiss the case.
-According to the Lawsuit filed in 2005, on behalf of 35 Liberian child and former child laborers, who remain anonymous, “The plantation workers allege, among other things, that they remain trapped by poverty and coercion on a frozen-in-time Plantation operated by Firestone in a manner identical to how the Plantation was operated when it was first opened by Firestone in 1926."
The workers must tap trees in order to extract the latex necessary for making rubber tires.
Timeline
Lawsuits
The International Labor Rights Fund filed an Alien Tort Claims Act case in the US District Court of California against Bridgestone alleging “Forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery” on the Firestone Plantation in Harbel, Liberia.
In June 2007, the judge in the lawsuit against Firestone ruled against Firestone's motion to dismiss the case.
The rubber tappers must meet a daily production quota or their already low wages will be halved
"We won the war but lost the battle," Terry Collingsworth, a lawyer for the children, said in an interview on Tuesday. "It is a huge win for the effort to use the Alien Tort Statute to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations in the global economy."
According to the Lawsuit filed in 2005, on behalf of 35 Liberian child and former child laborers, who remain anonymous, “The plantation workers allege, among other things, that they remain trapped by poverty and coercion on a frozen-in-time Plantation operated by Firestone in a manner identical to how the Plantation was operated when it was first opened by Firestone in 1926."
A federal appeals court threw out a lawsuit accusing the Firestone tire company of illegally using child labor in Liberia, but found that U.S. law allows companies to be held liable for human rights abuses abroad.
In an opinion written by Judge Richard Posner, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said companies are not immune from liability in U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Statute for human rights abuses outside the country.
Posner nonetheless rejected claims by 23 Liberian children who challenged working conditions on a 118,000-acre latex-producing rubber tree farm in Liberia. Firestone has operated in the west-central African country since 1926.