By Fatu Kamara, contributing writer
Lacky says he retired with a US$209 monthly benefit but now receives only five dollars. He says, “They mentioned the law, but they never showed us how the law reduced our money.”
Firestone retirees after the presentation of their resolution to the All Retired Citizens Association of Liberia, Harbel, Margibi county.
Seventy-year-old Isaac James devoted 37 years of his life to the Firestone Liberia Plantation Company, beginning work in 1980 and retiring in 2017. At the time of his retirement, he says he received US$82 monthly. Today, that amount has fallen to just US$8.
James says the reduction has made life unbearable.
“I have to do slashing work before I eat,” he says. “After working all my life, this is not how I expected to live.”
James also says Firestone ended his health benefits and removed his children from the company’s school.
“That money cannot even take me to the clinic and back. When we were strong, we gave the company our strength. Now that we are weak, we are on our own,” says David Lacky, another Firestone retiree who worked for the company for over twenty-eight years.
Lacky says he retired with a US$209 monthly benefit but now receives only five dollars. He says, “They mentioned the law, but they never showed us how the law reduced our money,”
Their testimonies were shared during a February 14 meeting in Harbel, Margibi County, where about one hundred retired Firestone workers gathered to draft a resolution demanding the restoration of what they call their full benefits.
Reading from the resolution, retiree Mulbah Kekulah said the reductions were carried out without proper explanation or education.
“We were never taken through the process,” Kekulah said. “We want transparency, and we want what is due to us.”
Many of the retirees say decades of physically demanding plantation labor have left them with chronic health conditions. They also claim that after retirement, their children were removed from Firestone-operated schools and their health insurance benefits were discontinued.
The group says it previously pursued legal action against Firestone and won in court but maintains that the ruling has not translated into meaningful financial relief.
Beyond the company, the retirees are directing their frustration at President Joseph Boakai. They say that during the 2023 campaign, then Unity Party standard bearer Boakai sought their votes and pledged to intervene in their long-running pension dispute.
But almost three years into his administration, they say he has not returned or sent word to them.
Rev. Kafa Teah, Chairman of the All Retired Citizens Association of Liberia
Rev. Kafa Teah, Chairman of the All Retired Citizens Association of Liberia, said the retirees feel abandoned.
“The president is not listening to us,” Rev. Teah said. “We saw him as someone who would hear our cry. Today, retirees across Liberia are struggling.
Teah says they are still waiting for the president’s promise to become action. He promised retirees that he will not get tired until their plights are addressed.
Firestone has yet to provide an official response on the matter, although the company was contacted before publication.
Until there is an official explanation from firestone, the retirees insist they will not back down until their benefits are restored and the President acts on the commitment they say he made to them.
