By Harry Kelber
Firestone Tappers in Liberia Condemned to Life of Squalor
Firestone rubber tappers, whose hard, productive labor has made the multibillion-dollar company one of the world¹s richest and most successful enterprise, are living in deplorable, dehumanizing conditions. A Daily Observer investigative team that visited the Firestone Plantation Dec. 17, saw windowless mud houses, some of them apparently built since the company started in 1926.
Inhabited by rubber-tree tappers, their wives and children, with no running water, no electricity and disgustingly primitive toilet and bathroom facilities, the conditions attest to the company¹s callous ingratitude for the billions of dollars made by the hands of these Liberian workers. In several of the Firestone camps, there is not a single kindergarten to accommodate the many hundreds of early-age children.
The Firestone workers are organized into a trade union, the Firestone Agriculture Workers¹ Union of Liberia (FAWLA), which is an affiliate of the Liberia Federation of Trade Unions. The union recently concluded a three-year agreement with the company, covering wages, working conditions and essential social services, including education for their children.
18,600 Afghans Lose Jobs as Brick Kilns Are Forced to Close
The non-availability of materials used in the manufacture of bricks has forced 75 brick kilns in Afghanistan¹s eastern Nangarhar province to shut down, depriving 18,600 workers of their jobs. The price of bricks, used as fuel, like coal, for house warming and cooking, has soared 30%, causing hardship among impoverished Afghans.
Mukhtar Ahmad, a worker at one of the brick-manufacturing plants, said the price of one ton of coal has doubled, from 4,000 afghans ($80) to 8.000 afghans ($160). The price for a ton of bricks has also increased, from 2,300 afghans to 3,100 afghans.
A spokesman for the Union of Brick Kilns, Mohammad Arit, said that nearly all the 18,600 workers had earlier been working in Pakistan. After the fall of the Taliban regime, most of the workers returned to Afghanistan, but now the closure of the kilns might force them to cross the border again.
Three Thai Auto Companies Face Strike Threats
More than 2,600 workers at three separate automotive companies that operate along Thai¹s eastern seaboard have threatened to strike if managers do not meet their demands for higher pay and benefits. Production at the Ford¹s Mazda assembly plant and several auto seat and glass factories in the region could be disrupted if the labor dispute cannot be settled.
Among the companies affected are AutoAlliance Thailand, a joint venture between Ford and Mazda; Saint-Gobain-Sekurit. An auto glass manufacturer, and General Seating Thailand, a manufacturer of car seats. Executives at all three companies say they hope to resolve the situations, but are prepared to hire temporary workers to ensure that production is not affected if strikes take place.
Labor leaders say the demands for higher wages are reasonable, given the huge profits of the auto industry, which set a record of more than one million vehicles produced in 2005. They also point to rising inflation and higher interest rates that have increased the cost of living for workers.
New Bolivian President Plans Tax on the Wealthy
The socialist president-elect of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has said he will cut his salary by half when he takes office next month, and he expects his cabinet to do the same. At the moment, Morales, an Aymara Indian born into poverty, rents a single room in a shared house before he moves into the presidential palace. The money saved by the salary cuts will go to social programs, particularly to education.
Morales has confirmed that his government plans to introduce a new tax on the wealthy as soon as possible. His advisers say they are planning to revoke a decree from 1985 which switched Bolivia to a free market economy recommended by Washington.
Morales has won wide support among Bolivian farmers for his pledge to allow them to grow coca plants, a major source of their income. Coca is used in the processing of cocaine. His first foreign trip will be to Cuba, a country he has long admired.
U.S. Mine Operator Gave Millions to Indonesian Military
A U.S. mining company, extracting gold from the largest reserve in the world in Indonesia¹s remote Papua province, has paid millions of dollars to the military and police there, the New York Times reported. From 1998 to 2004, the mining company, Freeport-McMoRan Grasberg, gave nearly $20 million to high-ranking Indonesian military and police and to military units, company records show.
The revelations come amid a corruption crackdown ordered by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who took office in October 2004 pledging to clean up a country consistently rated as one of the world¹s most graft-prone. The New Orleans-based company defended itself by saying it had provided a secure working environment for its more than 18,000 employees and contract workers in accordance with the U.S. and Indonesian laws.
The company has been one of the top sources of revenue for the Indonesian government, providing it with $33 billion in benefits from 1992 to 2004. This year it expects to pay the government $1 billion. Given the enormous security problems in Indonesia, the company regards huge payoffs as ³the cost of doing business² in that country.
Argentine Workers Take Control of Bankrupt Glass Factory
The workers of the San Justo glassworks in Buenos Aires never thought about owning their company until it went bankrupt four years ago. The factory is one of more than 100 ³recovered businesses² that are now putting themselves forward as an alternative business model for the country.
When the glassworks went bankrupt, a group of the workers, faced with losing their jobs, barricaded the factory gates for almost a year to stop the machinery from being taken away. They slept under canvas through the worst of the winter, while a lawyer argued their case in court. The workers claimed that because they had not been paid for months, they should have first right to the machinery and factory site. Eventually, a judge gave them permission to restart the furnaces.
Today, the 38 workers are once again making glass car headlights , exporting these as spare parts to other countries in South America. They earn about $500 a month, a good wage for Argentina and one that equals the best period when the factory was in private hands.
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