Margibi — The Management of Salala Rubber Corporation or SRC, in Weala, Margibi County, has shut down indefinitely following last Thursday's violence by aggrieved workers, predominantly tappers that led to looting and burning down of the residence and vehicle of Plantation Manager Sangeeth Sathyan.
The protesting workers have been demanding improved working conditions and five months' salary arrears.
The company's total workforce is estimated at 800 people, who are all expected to be out of job indefinitely, pending a full investigation into the protest that turned violent and destroyed the company's assets amid the threat of life.
On the morning hours of Thursday, June 27, 2024, workers of SRC, including contractors and employees, predominantly tappers, entered the factory, put the administrative offices on fire, broke into a warehouse, and looted bags of rice as they set ablaze residence of the plantation manager, Sangeeth Sathyan and his assigned vehicle while holding general manager Ijith Kumar, hostage.
The violent protest occurred amid ongoing negotiations between the aggrieved workers and the management, which were conducted through the leadership of the Salala Agriculture Workers Union (SAWU), headed by Madam Mary Boimah, about their demands, preceded by a go-slow.
A NEW DAWN's investigation gathered that the SRC workers went amok during the negotiation when the management insisted it would not pay them for five days they were off the job, as they decried bad labor practices, among others, in their 13-count position.
On the same Thursday, Margibi County District # 5 Representative Clarence G. Gahr was in conversation with the leadership of the workers' union after they reached out to him to intervene in making the company see reason to do something about the five days.
The lawmaker said he spoke with both the management and the workers' union, and some of the workers informed him that management was finding solutions to their grievances. However, to his surprise, the workers were already vandalizing the company's properties on the very day their leadership was meeting with him.
The SRC Management immediately shut down indefinitely on Saturday, June 29, halting all operations until otherwise decided.
A copy of the shutdown notice obtained by the NEW DAWN, addressed to the employees and with copies to the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture Labour, and the General Agriculture and Allied Workers Union of Liberia or GAAWUL, shows that the management said its operation is closed until otherwise decided.
The notice from SRC Management reads: "In the wake of the recent illegal and violent strike action carried out by employees, in particular, on Thursday, June 27, 2024, which led to the manhandling of senior personnel and staff, especially the general manager and one of the company's plantation superintendents, issuing of death threats as well as wanton destruction of company's properties by burning of senior staff residential unit(s), the plantation manager's vehicle, smashing offices, setting fire to offices, and looting, etc., Management hereby informs that the operation of the company is closed with immediate effect until otherwise decided. Meanwhile, Management informs all employees that the company shall pay appropriate end-of-service compensation per applicable laws."
Some top management team members, who spoke anonymously over the weekend to this paper, said the company, which has been carrying on skeletal operations, will close all of its activities for six months and reorganize itself to recruit a completely new workforce.
The company will also, accordingly, do the recruitment without considering any of the individuals involved in the protest or people who have track records of causing trouble for the entity.
Sources describe the aggrieved tappers' action as "adding insult to injury." The decision to close down is said to have mainly derived from the mother company of SRC, Socfin, which has the Salala Rubber Corporation (SRC) in Margibi and the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) in Grand Bassa County, respectively.
Socfin, according to the investigation, has invested more capital into the SRC than LAC, but the SRC has experienced more losses, while LAC lives up to the essence of Socfin Group's operations in Liberi.
Socfin says it has incurred losses of over US$40M from the SRC dating back to 2010. The SRC, which has been operating on a skeletal basis, was expected to start major employment activities in August or October this year, but the workers' actions have shifted the company's decision to shut down.
The latest strike that triggered the company's decision was carried out by workers of the company, mainly tappers (contractors and employees), who resolved to carry on a violent strike that started with days of go-slow meant to erect a checkpoint against the company for alleged bad labor practices that they said had persisted for about three years with no remedy. The aggrieved tappers are around 500.
Their unwanted action was said to have been prompted by management's alleged refusal to pay them for about five days, saying they didn't work while on the go-slow.
The New Dawn also gathered that the plantation manager, Sangeeth Sathyan, flew out of Liberia on the very day of the protest. Socfin blames the management for allowing the company's crisis to escalate to that level.
Mr. Sathyan, an Indian National, was heavily hinted at the SRC's main factory as one of the main causes of the strike because he reportedly insisted on agreeing for the protesters to be paid for the five days.
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After a meeting with the workers' union leadership in which the workers were informed by the union leaders that management had declined to pay them for the five days they were demanding, they immediately transgressed their go-slow action into a violent protest, inflicting damages.
Meanwhile, the Liberia National Police has arrested ten suspects and retrieved about 16 bags of looted rice.
Regarding the arrest, this paper is reliably informed that the bulk of those arrested were not directly in the protest but individuals from the community caught on camera stealing bags of rice.
In their 13-count grievances presented to the workers' union recently, the aggrieved workers alleged bad labor practices by management for nearly three years with no remedy, naming poor health care and housing facilities and management's constant habit of not replacing tapping knives when they are damaged.
They also pointed to management's action to assign about 1,700 rubber trees to a tapper daily instead of 500 to 600 trees daily; management's refusal to provide a jeep for an ambulance, the high cost of rice being issued them by the company, and lack of transportation for the workers residing outside of the plantation, among others. Editing by Jonathan Browne
