Tag Archive for: Firestone

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Liberian Union Receives Child Labor Award

by SANDRA POLASKI

I want to tell you about the remote town of Harbel, Liberia and the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia (FAWUL), which has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of workers and their children. The union just won the Department of Labor’s 2010 Iqbal Masih Award, an award that Congress established to recognize extraordinary efforts to end the worst forms of child labor.  This award is given in remembrance of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child carpet weaver who was sold into slavery at the age of four.  He escaped his servitude to become an outspoken advocate against child labor before losing his life at the age of 13. Read more

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US Department of Labor presents Iqbal Masih Award to Liberian workers’ group for efforts to combat exploitive child labor

News Release
ILAB News Release: [02/16/2011]

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has presented the 2010 Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor to the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia.
“This award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of the Firestone Agricultural Workers Union to combat the worst forms of child labor internationally,” said Secretary Solis. “The group serves as a model to others, showing that progress is possible and worth the effort.”
The Iqbal Masih Award was established by Congress to recognize the work of an individual, company, organization or national government to end the worst forms of child labor. The award reflects the spirit of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani child enslaved at the age of four who escaped his servitude and became an outspoken advocate against child slavery. Tragically, in 1995 at the age of 13, Iqbal was killed in Pakistan.

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