Bridgestone

The widespread use of child labor has been reported on Firestone's rubber plantation in Liberia. One of the major causes of child labor is the high production quotas rubber tappers are expected to meet everyday or their low wages are halved. Workers must carry buckets weighing 70 pounds each on a stick on their back and are exposed to toxic pesticides, among many other hazards. Firestone is also currently refusing to recognize a newly and democratically elected union leadership after years of only negotiating with a so-called "yellow" or company union.

Due to its abuse of workers, the company has been the target of a lawsuit by the International Rights Advocates filed in 2005. In June 2007, the judge in Indianapolis ruled against Firestone's motion to dismiss the case and ruled that the case would move forward on child labor claims.

Bridgestone has generally had harmonious relations with its unions in Japan, but the story was different after it acquired U.S. tire maker Firestone in the late 1980s. The United Rubber Workers, seeking to reverse contract concessions it made in the early 1980s, clashed with the new Japanese owners, who were uncomfortable with aggressive unions.

In 1994 the Rubber Workers went out on strike, but the company took a hard line. After staying out ten months—during which the company hired replacement workers—the union offered unconditionally to return to work without a contract. Bridgestone initially refused to take back the strikers, but it eventually did so while also retaining many of the scabs. The union launched a corporate campaign against Bridgestone to put non-workplace pressure against the company. The conflict officially came to an end in late 1996, when union members approved a new contract. In 2001 the company shut down the plant in Decatur, Illinois whose workers were among the most militant during the period of conflict.

A 2002 report by two Princeton University economists concluded that labor strife at Bridgestone’s U.S. plants, especially the one in Decatur, contributed significantly to the production of defective tires in the 1990s.

In 2007 the union, now part of the United Steelworkers, negotiated a new three-year master contract with the company.

Bridgestone unions from around the world participate in a network formed through the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions.