Dangerous tires aren’t the only reason Firestone has found itself under the klieg lights of public scrutiny. A series of safety incidents at Firestone plants, some hardball labor tactics and its unrespon-siveness to the Clinton administration’s entreaties place Bridgestone–Firestone’s parent–in a category all its own for Reich. He told Newsweek that as Labor secretary he “dealt with no company that was as irresponsible as Bridgestone.’’ Now, questions about plant safety and labor relations are central to the current fire-storm surrounding Firestone, as lawyers suing the company assert that poor labor relations may have hurt quality.
Besides the Oklahoma City fatality, where Reich said other workers were badly injured, there have been other safety incidents. Those incidents, combined with what Reich says was an unwillingness to quickly respond to requests from his office, have prompted Reich’s harsh criticism. Among the other incidents: two welders were killed at a factory in North Carolina in 1994 when the oil tank they were working on exploded, prompting citations for shortcomings such as failing to label hazardous chemicals. That same year, two Firestone plants in Tennessee were cited by state OSHA officials for failing to ensure that machinery was disconnected from its energy source before repairs. Earlier this month a worker was critically injured at a Firestone plant in Des Moines, Iowa. Firestone plants have a “long, gruesome, dense history of injuries,’’ says Reich.
Workers have been injured at other tire companies’ plants, of course. Measuring the relative safety of different tiremakers is difficult–the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that apple-to-apple comparisons aren’t available. The United Steelworkers of America, which represents Firestone workers, said officials weren’t available to comment and Firestone officials did not return calls.
But Reich says there was a pattern of troubling behavior at the company. After the Oklahoma City incident, he tried to get Firestone to install new safety devices but the company refused. It also hired permanent replacements for thousands of striking workers in 1994. Reich said at the time: “It is exceedingly unusual for a foreign company to behave as a subpar corporate citizen.’’ Now the focus has shifted to whether this corporate citizen is responsible for making subpar tires.
