Bridgestone-Firestone criticized for ordering workers to cease charity drive
According to PoliticalAffairs.net, Bridgestone-Firestone employees at the company's LaVergne, Tennesee plant have been ordered to stop collecting donations at the factory's gate for struggling rubber workers in Africa.
The charity drive was intended to help the company's own employees who work in a Liberian plant for about $3 per day. Reportedly the plant's workers recently went on strike after Bridgestone-Firestone elected to withhold in excess of one-third of their paychecks for 'unexplained deductions.' The writer further notes that the company's Liberian facility is under fire for human rights violations--namely making use of child labor and use of toxic pesticides.
Collecting donations for worthy causes has apparently been done before at the plant for years, including on behalf of ill United Steelworkers members, other striking local union chapters and victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Editor's Note: It would appear from the text that the article's author made no effort to contact Bridgestone-Firestone for comment or confirmation, a disconcerting omission.
[Source:PoliticalAffairs.net]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Claud Pipkin 12:13PM (2/28/2006)
I think it's about time we (the USA) run the foreign company owners off..........at least the far east owners..
Reply
Ren 12:27PM (2/28/2006)
Claud - Why?
Reply
James Rainey 12:31PM (2/28/2006)
I believe a more disconcerting omission is that Autoblog.com would run this story without contacting Firestone. To spread rumors without confirmation, is wrong.
I look to Autoblog to report the truth when they can. I also look to them to confirm that truth when possible.
This is irresponsible behavior.
Reply
Noah 12:39PM (2/28/2006)
You have to remember that $3 a day in a lot of money in most places in Africa. I'm no expert on Liberia but as far as I know that's about 3x the average wage.
If you paid workers the same there what you do here they'd quit after their first pay check and it would damage the local economy.
You can't end poverty by paying people more, you just create inflation and destabilized their already shoddy economies.
However it'd be nice to see more companies offering community programs, and setting up schools with better text books and training teachers. Aiding the community is a cheap and safe way to end poverty. Look at what it did for South Korea, Anyone drive a Hyundai? I'm not saying that South Korea is a first world nation but it's a lot better than it was 30 years ago.
In any event I don't think it's right for anyone to trash Bridgestone for their actions without asking for a comment first.
--Noah
Reply
Steve B 12:43PM (2/28/2006)
Give me a break.
Publicaffairs.net is not a reputable news source. It is a Marxist publication from the American Communist Party. Is it any surprise they didn't get the evil capitalist side of the story.
Show me the same news story from the right wing and centrist branches of the mainstream media, and I'll give this 'breaking story' more than a passing chuckle.
Reply
Peter Reynolds 1:45PM (2/28/2006)
Let's have a 'follow-up' to this story. Are there any Bridgestone-Firestone workers reading this who could give us a report?
Reply
Ukie 2:15PM (2/28/2006)
I live in the area, and employee-management relationships in this company are terrible. This is a union shop in an almost totally non-union area. Rest assured, all these employees are doing is grandstanding for puclicity in an effort to make management look bad.
How many companies do you know that would allow their own employees to stand on company property with signs that effectively say "my company sucks?" I don't know of any, and I agree somebody should have gotten a statement from B-F before printing this.
What sucks is this union's attitude. They couldn't give a rip about employees in Africa.
Reply