The TRC report mentions the role that forced labor played in setting up Firestone's rubber plantation when the company first came to Liberia in the 1920's. As the report states,
The concentration of state power among a few influential families meant that the business of governance served the interest of businesses controlled by those families and their networks. Special deals were reached with a multitude of foreign business interests, most notably the lease of one million acres of land on highly favorable terms to the Firestone Rubber Company, which led to the creation of the world’s largest rubber plantation. In 1920, the True Whig Party forcibly recruited workers for the Firestone plantation and other projects through its Labor Bureau and the Liberian Frontier Force, which would mete out harsh punishment to any indigenous leaders unable or unwilling to supply workers. (Page 5)
The report goes on to show how elites in Liberia and the US government worked together to help Firestone secure an agreement with the Liberian government that allowed the company cheap access to the country's resources and also placed Firestone in a position of significant economic and political influence over Liberia:
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, (Firestone) 1926 agreement was procured with the support of the US Government to tap Liberia’s significant rubber resources at terms very favorable to Firestone in exchange for a US$5m loan to settle Liberia’s overdue foreign debt. Liberia, under the agreement, leased a contested 1,000,000 acres of fertile, arable land for 99 years at a price of 6 cents per acre. Firestone, as a US interest, became a significant economic presence and employer in Liberia. (Page 109)
The power held by Firestone and the company's close relationship with the US government was exhibited during the civil war in Liberia. The TRC report highlights how Firestone was able to avoid sanctions on rubber that were applied to many other Liberian resources due to the role these exports played in fueling the conflict. Firestone won this debate by utilizing its close relationship with the US Government and by making significant financial contributions to Charles Taylor in exchange for protection on the plantation:
A strong desire to end the conflict and secure the peace, led the international community to consider arms embargo on Liberia and further sanctions on the export of raw materials; timber and diamond exports from Liberia. Rubber exports, especially by Firestone, continued throughout the conflict period without sanctions. The US Government made representations for the continuation of this trade during the conflict on behalf of Firestone. Firestone resumed full scale operations on January 22, 1992 pursuant to a memorandum of understanding signed January 17, 1992, with Charles Taylor's NPFL awarding the NPFL US$2 million annually in exchange for NPFL's protection. Firestone plantation was the launch pad for NPFL's infamous, Operation Octopus' attack on Monrovia and ECOMOG to unseat IGNU. (Page 127-8)
The report notes at least one instance of these security forces being used to attack Firestone workers:
[In September 1997], Liberian police and ECOMOG soldiers assaulted a group of some 500 employees of the Firestone Plantations Company in Harbel, near Monrovia, who were demonstrating peacefully for the release of four colleagues held by the company's security staff. Police and soldiers reportedly beat the workers with batons and gun butts, and then opened fire, injuring seven people. (Page 188)
More recently, Firestone workers have been physically attacked by any of the (at least) four security forces operating on the plantation during strikes in April and December of 2007. Both of these instances of violence occurred when the workers were organizing to hold their first ever free and fair union elections and to have their newly elected union leaders recognized by the company. In the coming months, workers will begin to negotiate a new contract with Firestone management and there is fear that security forces operating on the Firestone plantation may once again be used to suppress worker organizing.
While Firestone has spent a lot of money on public relations materials promoting itself as a "partner" with Liberia (their website says: "We have succeeded together and we have suffered together"), the TRC report leaves one wondering who Firestone's true partner in Liberia has been. From the use of forced labor in the company's early days in Liberia through payments to a leader who is on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity to the current exploitation of workers and the environment, it is time that people around the world join communities affected by Firestone in Liberia in demanding justice.
