Strike Continues at Firestone’s Liberia Plantation
Despite earlier reports that workers had gone back to work, one week into the strike company officials told Tyres & Accessories that while the industrial action “could end tomorrow, it could also go on for weeks.” In an interview with T&A, Bridgestone Americas’ Dan MacDonald and Gert Meylemans (Bridgestone Europe) explained that the ongoing strike might mean there is disruption, but it also unlikely to have any long term or direct effects on prices.
Despite the plantation’s size (118,000 acres) the company representatives downplayed the effect the strike would have on the tyre market. “The majority of what is harvested is not block rubber, but liquid latex,” Dan MacDonald told Tyres & Accessories. Instead the Liberian plantation’s output is only said to make up 14 per cent of Bridgestone Americas’ and 1.2 per cent of the company’s worldwide demand. For now there is said to be significant quantities of the necessary raw materials in reserve. And the executives pointed out that the company ran other large plantations in places like Indonesia. Reserves and alternative sites aside, 5,800 striking workers is not good for any company.