18 May 2006
Harbel, Liberia - Bridgestone/Firestone has rebutted a United Nations report that alleges the company conducts poor labour practices at its natural rubber plantation in Liberia.
The company said the United Nations' Mission in Liberia report on the human rights situation at the BFS and four other NR plantations in that country is filled with inaccuracies and distortions. "It's not even close to being right," a BFS spokesman said.
Among other things, the UNMIL report details such violations on Liberian NR plantations as the use of child labour, subpar wages, widespread pollution and inadequate training and safety equipment for hazardous working conditions. BFS is facing a lawsuit from the International Labor Rights Fund in Indianapolis federal district court because of alleged poor labour conditions in Liberia.
Terry Collingsworth, a staff attorney for the ILRF, called the UN report "a beautiful thing," and said it proved the fund's contention that child labour is pervasive on Liberian rubber plantations.
From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)
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