By William Selmah – wselmah@gmail.com
The fate of over 500 students within the Firestone School System appears to be hanging in a balance, after the company began laying off their parents and guardians, as part of austerity measures being implemented by the company.
The number of affected students will increase as the redundancy continues in the coming days, according to reports.
The homes they occupy will have to be turned over to consummate the redundancy of 193 whose services have been terminated with more expected to follow. The company is poised to slice 13% of its over 20,000 workforce in this latest exercise.
Some 200 workers were handed their redundancy letters at the weekend, state radio reported on Monday but some of the workers are said to have rejected the move by the Firestone management.
Although students have the option to continue and end the school year which runs till June, there is no idea where they will be dwelling up to that time.
They have made SOS call to the government to intervene on their behalf for Firestone to allow them occupy the housing units up to June.
Firestone Liberia at the weekend began laying off dozens of its workers, after several appeals from government and other quarters failed to help the situation.
The company cites as reason for the redundancy, “continuing economic challenges and low production”.
The first batch of affected employees who received their letters on Saturday April 13, 2019, are from Division 43 where 137 was affected, and Division 42 which saw the services of 56 terminated.
The company thanked them for their services, expressing regrets that that they had to let them go because the quantity of latex being accrued could no longer permit them to let them stay on.
Benefits to affected employees including severance, lieu of notice and arrears will be paid upon the turning over of company properties including housing units.
Firestone began operations in Liberia in 1926, after the government of Liberia signed a 99 year concession agreement with the company for a million acres at 6 cents per acre. Under the deal, the company could take its one million acres from any place of its choosing.
That agreement later became a target of harsh criticisms of the government’s insensitivity to development and the plight of its people, as it tied the company down to no significant corporate social responsibility.