SALALA, Margibi – The Management of Salala Rubber Corporation, or SRC, located in Gibi District, Upper Margibi, has announced the indefinite end to all its rubber tapping operations.

The company said in a release that it has also closed all departments and sections associated with tapping operations as of February 29.

“This action is based principally on the continuing sharp decline in the price of natural rubber on both the local and international markets,” the release said.

Given the unfavorable economic conditions for business, SRC said it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations as a means of mitigating the financial and economic shocks occasioned by the plummeting commodity price, which has shown no sign of abating.

As a result of these actions, the company said it will lay off 300 of its employees, nearly half of its entire work force.

“We will maintain a skeleton staff to keep the company running for now until there is some reversal in the current continuing decline in the price of rubber local and internationally,” the release noted.

The planned layoff exercise will affect all categories of employees within the company, although some of them are not directly connected to tapping operation, but jobs depend on production acquired by tappers.

The company said it will pay the affected employees in line with the 1985 Labor Law.

The Management announced that it has begun holding discussions with the leadership of the workers union. It said it has also informed requisite labor regulatory agencies, including the Ministry of Labor.

“It is always a difficult decision to send such a large number of employees off the job, however it had become very necessary for the company to take such action,” the company said in the release.

The statement disclosed that the ongoing actions will remain enforced as long as the price of rubber continued to decline.

Salala Workers Union President Anthony Moses confirmed the reduction in staff. He said the company’s action will affect the economy of the country by making it difficult for citizens to maintain good standards of living.

He said the union is negotiating with SRC to delay the layoff plan to allow their employees’ children who are attending the company’s school complete the school year.

“We are also appealing to the management to grant us three month salaries across to all affected employees, separate from what we should receive as compensation for being laid off,” he said.

A Bush Chicken investigation has revealed that Firestone-Liberia, the largest processor of export rubber in the country is continuing its exercise to lay off its “non-essential” work force.

Although the management has not officially commented on the situation, Firestone-Liberia over the last two months is continuing down-sizing exercise with the Department of Public Affairs being the latest to be affected.

At least four out of five members of the department were laid off while other departments including Government and External Affairs and the Voice of Firestone radio station also being affected.

The management of Firestone Liberia and its workers’ union denied radio reports last year of an ongoing mass layoff of employees. They acknowledge that only a few employees were being laid off to adjust to business needs.

The Firestone Agricultural Workers Union of Liberia’s President Harris Kerkula said that the company was transferring workers from different sections and departments to others, with some necessary reductions in manpower in a few departments.

Between 2000 and 2010, the price of rubber went as high as US $2,850 per wet ton, but started plummeting between 2011, and it currently stands at a price of US $406.00 per wet ton, representing a decline of 86% in price.

Rubber is not the only commodity that has seen a steep decrease in global prices. Liberia’s other major export, iron ore, has also experienced a decline in prices on the global market that has affected the operations of mining companies in the country.

The world giant steel company, Arcelor Mital, recently laid off 167 of its employees.

Arcelor Mittal Chief Executive Officer Michel Prive in a statement said it was regrettable to layoff the more than one hundred employees, but blamed unfavourable economic environment for the company’s action.

Putu Mining Company in Grand Gedeh has also reportedly closed down its operations amidst the decline in the price of the mineral.

Featured Photo courtesy of Gbatemah Senah