Margibi County—More than 500 tappers including employees and contractors at the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) in Margibi County have staged an indefinite protest against the alleged exploitation of workers and bad labor practices perpetrated by the management.
The tappers want the management to provide proper medical treatment for workers and honor medical bills of extra expenses incurred during their illness while on the job.
The enraged striking workers alleged that the bad labor practices against them (workers) had persisted for more than three years without any redress from the management despite persistent calls for improvement of workers’ conditions on the plantation.
The aggrieved SRC workers are demanding in their 13 counts document presented to the Salala Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (SAWUL) leadership the immediate renovation of the housing facilities. They are claiming that most of the housing facilities at the plantation are in deplorable conditions.
Among other demands, the workers are requesting management to provide the requisite tapping tools, alleging that when their working tools (tapping knives) are dulled or damaged it takes more time before they are replaced by the management despite tapping knives should be used for at least three months.
The tappers want the management to provide proper medical treatment for workers and honor medical bills of extra expenses incurred during their illness while on the job.
The management, according to the aggrieved workers, should subsidize the cost of 50kg bag of rice to US$12.00 to workers and further, make the available additional 50kg bag of rice at a low cost.
Additionally, the striking workers are requesting the management to make vehicles for workers to convey to and fro from work and their dependents for those residing outside the premises of the plantation.
They are also alleging that tappers’ bonuses are not being differentiated from daily wages and the management should reduce the target production from 1700kgs to 300kgs and minus the target production before applying water lost coefficient to the remaining for bonus calculation.
At the same time, they are requesting the management to provide a bus as was jointly agreed before instead of a pick-up that is currently being used as an ambulance at the plantation.
The striking workers are demanding identification cards for workers and dependents.
They are also requesting the SRC management to identify a referral hospital for workers and their dependents with clear documentation for possible and clear referrals.
The SRC aggrieved workers vowed that they will only return to work if the company management agreed to their grievances, stating that they resorted to taking on the protest action because the management has over the years refused to find remedy to their problems.
They claimed that the management reported failure to address these challenges which have lasted between 2022 and 2024, resorting to their indefinite protest action.
They have vowed to only return to work when the management addressed their concerns including the redrafting of the delayed collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
When contacted, the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) Relationship and Administrative Consultant, Mr. Jallah Mensah, informed FrontPage Africa via mobile phone on Thursday that the management has since received the aggrieved workers’ demands. He disclosed that the management has requested the workers’ union leadership to a meeting slated for today Friday, June 21, 2024, to find amicable ways to address the workers’ concerns.
