Gov’t Must Intervene -Into Firestone Redundancy Scheme
By Rancy S. Teewia
The Agricultural Agro-processing and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia (AAIWUL) has called on the Government of Liberia to pay serious attention to the termination of 800 workers at the Firestone Rubber Plantation which has dropped thirteen percent of the workforce working with the company on its plantation in Firestone Harbel, Margibi County.
The Secretary General of the Agricultural Agro-processing and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia, Mr. Edwin B. Cisco, said if the national government does not give attention to the matter unfolding at Firestone, it will cause serious problem to the Liberian economy, knowing that Firestone is one of the engines that propels the Liberian economy.
Mr. Cisco spoke to reporters on Monday, April 1, 2019, at the Agricultural Agro-processing Industrial Workers Union office located at SKD Boulevard in Congo Town Monrovia, Liberia.
Mr. Cisco also added that the Office of the President of Liberia needs to pay serious attention to the issue of terminating 800 workers at the Firestone Plantation because the authority of Firestone said the dropping of the 800 workers is just the beginning of the process to reduce workforce at the plantation due to the continuous decrease of demand of rubber on the world market.
The workers are of the opinion that if there is any backfire in the termination of the 800 workers from job, it will cause harm to the government and at the same time increase the rate of unemployment that poses job insecurity for Liberians which is already critical to the people and opponents of the government.
Mr. Cisco also said the government should make everything possible to enact the Decent Work Act into law in order to handle labor issues in accordance with good labor practices.
At the same time, the Union is calling on the victims of the Firestone workforce to be patient and law abiding as the Agricultural Agro-processing and Industrial Workers Union of Liberia along with the Ministry of Labor and the Office of the President of the Republic Liberia is working to ensure that every Liberian is protected under the laws of Liberia.
It can be recalled that on December 21, 2018, the management of Firestone Rubber Company dropped 13% of its workforce, a reason they attributed to the persistence falling in the price of rubber on the global market.