A group of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles workers is suing FCA and the UAW for racketeering and conspiracy, claiming they are the real-life victims of the ongoing corruption scandal.
The 27 Toledo-based autoworkers listed as plaintiffs said the UAW buried their concerns about pay and employment status because union officials were getting the kinds of swanky perks — travel, fancy meals, a mortgage payoff — uncovered during the ongoing federal probe.
That investigation has led to 14 convictions of former FCA and union officials, including ex-union President Gary Jones and Joe Ashton, who once sat on the board of General Motors, and has forced the UAW into negotiations with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit over future reforms.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Toledo, which also names a host of people caught up in the corruption probe as defendants, seeks triple the amount of damages (the specific amount is not listed) because of the nature of the case. It follows the recent dismissal of a high-profile federal racketeering lawsuit GM filed against FCA, claiming its rival cost GM billions of dollars by corrupting contract bargaining. FCA called the case meritless. The judge in that case at one point had tried to get the two companies’ CEOs to meet and resolve their issues, citing the need to heal the country in a time of pandemic amid the anguish over racism following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Ken Myers, an attorney representing the Toledo FCA workers, said the details in the latest lawsuit demonstrate how the corruption scheme directly affected workers. FCA currently builds its popular Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator models in Toledo.
“This lawsuit is important because these autoworkers are the real-life victims of the bribery scandal. These are the people who were victimized by FCA paying and UAW receiving bribes. Instead of representing their membership, these union guys were taking money, food, vacations and alcohol, and this lawsuit says that there are real-life consequences,” Myers said.
FCA, however, pushed back against the suit.
“We deny the allegations in this lawsuit and are prepared to vigorously defend the company,” according to a statement sent by FCA spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.
UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said the union cannot comment on pending litigation. He noted, however, the case “has gone through review within the UAW structure, including the independent public review board in the past.”
The workers, part of a larger group of similarly situated employees, said FCA hired them as temporary part-time employees in 2007 when the company was then known just as Chrysler. The workers were brought on on a permanent full-time basis in 2013, they said, after the company hired about 100 people who had worked for one of Chrysler’s suppliers, even though the company should have hired them permanently first.
Because of changes in the wage structure in 2011, the workers, who said they actually worked so much they received overtime during their six years as temporary employees, said their wages dropped by as much as $12-an-hour when they were hired as permanent employees.
The workers said that under the collective bargaining agreement Chrysler was not supposed to use temporary workers to avoid paying full-time pay and benefits.
The workers said the union filed grievances on their behalf, but a union representative withdrew them without informing the workers. Instead, the workers said they were misled about the status of the grievances. The suit alleges that these were the kinds of company friendly actions that resulted from the bribery in the corruption scheme and if the grievances had been successful, they would have cost the company millions of dollars.
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The case marks a second attempt to address the workers’ issues. An earlier suit, filed in 2015 but still active, focused on claims of labor-management law violation. The current suit relies on the federal investigation, which came to light with the first indictments in 2017 and showed how millions of dollars meant for worker training was ripped off instead. The suit notes the now infamous statements in the indictment of Alphons Iacobelli, the onetime lead labor negotiator for FCA, that payments were made to keep UAW officials “fat, dumb and happy” and “to buy labor peace.”
The Toledo Blade reported on this filing earlier.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.
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