We're in a yellow school bus jouncing across Firestone's rubber tree
plantation when I notice that the air smells exactly like Sophie the
Giraffe—or would, if Sophie were 50 feet tall and stalking through
Liberia. Sophie, my kid's "green" European teether, is made of
rubberwood (havea), which in addition to being a kid-safe renewable
resource, exudes an intoxicating warm honey smell. It's the wet end of
rainy season when our bus slashes through two leafy green walls of
potential Sophies, the rubber trees rolling out to the horizon on both
sides of the recently paved road. The green-hued air itself feels
almost thick enough to chew. It is noticeably easier to breathe here
than in Liberia's capitol.

"Me? I'm Pentecostal," says Comfort Willie, my hard-hat wearing
Liberian seat mate. We are nattering on about the new houses Firestone
built for its rubber workers, the crumbling brick buildings circa
1926, and the vast ecosystem of Christian churches in Liberia.
Comfort, who in 2006 helped found the Firestone Agricultural Workers
Union of Liberia with the online international help of United
Steelworkers, is my new BFF. (When I disclosed earlier that I was in
the Mother Jones union, she hugged me hard and said: "Eee! My union
sister!," then waved over her labor colleagues to meet another member
of the flock.)

Read the rest here:
http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/11/liberia-firestone-rubber-labor