What are your thoughts about the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia receiving the Iqbal Masih Award?
Firestone Liberia applauds the work of individuals and organizations that share our commitment to working to secure a safe and promising future for children, and gives our compliments to FAWUL leadership on receiving this award. While we are appreciative of the progress we have made together with FAWUL, we wish to clarify that Firestone Liberia has had a formal policy prohibiting child labor since June 2000. In July 2005, the policy was reissued, and the most recent version of the policy — a zero-tolerance policy that requires immediate termination of any Firestone employee who suggests, participates in, induces or attempts to hide an instance of child labor — was implemented in November 2005. Per each of these child labor policies, Firestone Liberia does not hire or employ anyone under 18, which exceeds Liberian labor law requirements by two years, and employees are expressly prohibited from bringing children under the age of 18 to work for use as helpers, even though doing so is a cu
