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During the war... after the war... Firestone came back to Liberia. This was the concept
that they had: They had told the United Steelworkers -- told our union brothers in America -- was that
they were doing so much more for workers in Liberia and so they could not expand on benefits
and other stuff for workers in America and Canada. And so the workers felt that, you
know, that we were the colleagues, and so they gave into that for some time. And then
they decided to come and do their own investigation to see what was [being claimed] was actually
the truth. And they came on the ground, they came to Liberia, and made some assessment.
And they eventually found out that what [the company was claiming] was not the truth. And
that's when they said well we will have to get to our brothers and work along with them.
And so when the wildcat strike came about, that as an opportunity and then that was when
they came in and we, you know, got affiliated with them, we got connected with them through
the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Congress
of National Trade Unions Organization. Both centers came in with the head of the United
Steelworkers union and then the American Center for International Labor Solidarity also joined
them, and that's how, you know, we got along with them and then they started building our capacity.
Through those interventions we were also able to get in touch with the International Labor
Rights Forum. They made several visits here. Firestone became real notable for the inhumane
living and working conditions and so almost every international human rights organizations
and trade union movement wanted to come in to see what was [occurring]. When these international
organizations came to us and we took them in the field, they took out their cameras
and talked to workers and talked to, you know, workers and their families. And when those
information, got out there, you know, people felt that something needed to be done and
the company too knew that she had to do the right thing.