USA - FCA worker unfortunately dies whilst performing regular preventative maintenance.

An employee at Fiat Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly plant died accidentally this morning after being crushed. The UAW identified the victim as Donald Megge, 53, of Sterling Heights, Mich. 

The union said Megge, a millwright and wastewater operator, died while performing regular preventative maintenance during a shift that started at 5:30 a.m. He was working alone and was discovered at about 6:30 a.m.

An FCA spokeswoman said the incident occurred in the on-site wastewater treatment plant that services the 3-million-square-foot plant where the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango are assembled. 

The treatment plant is in a separate building from the assembly operations and production was not impacted.

"FCA US is deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took the life of an 18-year employee at Jefferson North this morning and our heartfelt condolences go out to his family," the company said in a statement.  

"The safety of our employees is our first priority, and we will continue to work in cooperation with the authorities, including (Michigan job safety regulators), to investigate the circumstances surrounding this terrible tragedy."

Jefferson North, built in 1991, employs more than 4,600 people, including about 4,400 hourly workers.

“Our heartfelt sympathy is extended to the family, friends and all of those who worked with UAW member Donald Megge,” Norwood Jewell, UAW vice president for the union’s FCA department, said in a written statement.

Jefferson North is the same assembly plant where an autoworker stabbed one of his co-workers to death in a dispute over a woman in September 2012. The alleged assailant fled and took his own life nearby.

Larry P. Vellequette

USA - Ford removes Chicago plant managers amid sexual harassment investigation.

Ford Motor Co. has replaced the plant manager, human resources officials and labor relations officials at its Chicago Assembly Plant after a federal investigator found evidence to support allegations of rampant sexual harassment and racial discrimination against dozens of female employees there.

As many as eight managers have been removed from the plant within the last several months, a person with knowledge of the situation told Automotive News.

In addition, the plant’s bargaining chairman, Coby Millender, who is identified as one of the harassers in a federal lawsuit filed against Ford in November, was temporarily suspended by the automaker, UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles said in a statement the union posted Tuesday on Facebook.

“The UAW and Ford Motor Company share a strong commitment towards eliminating sexual harassment and discrimination, of any form, in the workplace. Such conduct is unacceptable, it is not tolerated and there are policies in place to prevent such from occurring,” Settles said in the post.

Settles said the union has filed a grievance challenging Millender's suspension, which ended April 15. He said both Ford and the UAW are actively investigating the allegations.

The Times of Northwest Indiana reported the manager departures Monday. The paper said Millender had been removed from his position, which Settles said was inaccurate.

A Ford spokeswoman declined to say whether any personnel changes were made in connection with the lawsuit and investigation.

"Ford rotates the career assignments for employees based on the needs of the company,” she said in an e-mailed statement. “Any questions regarding the UAW should be directed to their team.”

Amended suit

The federal suit, originally filed by four women, was amended last week to name 33 female Ford employees who say coworkers and supervisors regularly groped them, attempted to have sex with them and either exposed themselves or showed them pictures of their genitals.

Some of the women say in court filings that they were denied overtime and other benefits when they rebuffed the men or reported the behavior to human resources and labor relations. One woman said she was suspended and then demoted from an $88,000-a-year supervisor’s job to an hourly position earning about $42,000 after she complained and encouraged co-workers to file similar complaints.

In February, an investigator from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said she found “reasonable” evidence to support complaints filed by 13 women who said they were harassed and in some cases disciplined or fired after they complained about the mistreatment, according to documents filed with the lawsuit.

Chicago Assembly has a history of sexual harassment allegations, with Ford paying some $19 million in 2000 to settle a lawsuit. The lawyer who filed that suit, Keith Hunt of Chicago firm Hunt & Associates, also represents the current group of plaintiffs.

As part of that settlement, Ford set up a hotline for workers to report harassment and discrimination. Many of the plaintiffs say they were told to stop calling the hotline after repeatedly filing reports.

No one answered the phone Tuesday at Local 551. Calls to numbers listed for Millender and the local’s president, Chris Pena, were not answered, and there was no way to leave a message.

Officials at UAW headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lawsuit allegations

The lawsuit and EEOC complaints describe an environment in which supervisors frequently subject the women to lewd comments, nudity and pornography. They say supervisors frequently had sex with female subordinates on the roof of the plant and denied bathroom breaks and other accommodations for women who refused requests for oral sex and intercourse.

“Ford is aware of the ongoing discrimination and harassment which occurs on a daily basis in an open manner, such that it is observed by employees and supervisors, and has turned a blind eye toward it,” the lawsuit says.

One of the plaintiffs says Millender, the bargaining chairman, publicly identified her as “the complainer,” which led to sexual graffiti and phallic items being left in her work and lunch area. 

Another woman said she was terminated but that Millender promised to get her job back if she had sex with him, and a third woman said Millender threatened to transfer her to a shift with a less desirable schedule if she refused an invitation to a “romantic lunch with him in his office.”

About half of the plaintiffs are or were entry-level workers at Ford, having been hired since 2010, but the others joined the automaker as far back as 1977.

Nick Bunkley

REPORT HERE

USA - FIAT agrees terms with UAW to take control of Chrysler Group

FIAT S.p.A. (“FIAT”) today announced an agreement with the VEBA Trust[1], under which its wholly owned subsidiary, FIAT North America LLC (“FNA”), will acquire all of the VEBA Trust’s equity membership interests in Chrysler Group LLC (“Chrysler Group”), representing the 41.4616% of Chrysler Group not currently held by FNA.  The transaction is expected to close on or before January 20, 2014.

In consideration for the sale of its membership interests in Chrysler Group, the VEBA Trust will receive aggregate consideration of U.S. $3,650 million consisting of:

• a special distribution payable by Chrysler Group to its members, in an aggregate amount of approximately U.S.$1,900 million (FNA’s portion of the special distribution will be paid by FNA to the VEBA Trust as part of the purchase consideration)[2]; and
• at closing, FNA will pay the remainder of approximately U.S.$1,750 million in cash purchase consideration to the VEBA Trust.

FIAT expects to fund the U.S. $1,750 million in cash from available cash on hand.  Chrysler Group expects to fund the special distribution from available cash on hand.

Contemporaneously with the transactions described above, Chrysler Group and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (the “UAW”) have agreed to a memorandum of understanding under Chrysler Group’s existing collective bargaining agreements to provide for additional contributions by Chrysler Group to the VEBA Trust of an aggregate of U.S. $700 million in four equal annual installments.  The initial payment will be made on closing of the transaction with FIAT and additional payments will be payable on each of the next three anniversaries of the initial payment. Chrysler Group expects to fund the initial contribution to the VEBA Trust from available cash on hand.

In consideration for these contributions, the UAW will agree to certain commitments to continue to support the industrial operations at Chrysler Group and the further implementation of the FIAT-Chrysler alliance, including to use best efforts to cooperate in the continued roll-out of FIAT-Chrysler World Class Manufacturing programs, actively participate in benchmarking efforts associated with implementation of these programs across all of FIAT-Chrysler manufacturing sites to ensure objective performance assessments and provide for proper application of WCM principles, and actively assist in the achievement of the Group’s long-term business plan.

“I have been looking forward to this day from the very moment that we were chosen to assist in the rebuilding of a vibrant Chrysler back in 2009,” said John Elkann, Chairman of FIAT. “The work, commitment and achievement I have witnessed from Chrysler over the past four and a half years is nothing short of exceptional, and I take this opportunity to officially welcome each and every one of the people in the Chrysler organisation to the integrated FIAT-Chrysler world.”

Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive of FIAT and Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group, had this to say: “In the life of every major organisation and its people, there are defining moments that go down in the history books. For FIAT and Chrysler, the agreement just reached with the VEBA is clearly one of those moments. I will be forever grateful to the leadership team for the support and unwavering dedication shown to the integration project that today has taken its final shape. The unified ownership structure will now allow us to fully execute our vision of creating a global automaker that is truly unique in terms of mix of experience, perspective and know-how, a solid and open organisation that will ensure all employees a challenging and rewarding environment.”

As part of the transactions, FNA and the VEBA Trust will agree to dismiss with prejudice the current proceedings before the Delaware Court of Chancery with respect to the interpretation of the call option agreement pursuant to which FIAT has, through FNA, exercised three tranches of a call option to acquire membership interests in Chrysler Group held by the VEBA Trust.  All of these membership interests will be acquired by FNA in connection with the transactions described above.

Given the funding arrangements for this transaction, it is not envisioned that FIAT will require equity capital to be raised via a rights issue.

[1] The UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association, is an independently administered trust established to pay health care benefits for retirees from Chrysler.

[2] In the event that the special distribution from Chrysler Group cannot be paid by the intended closing date (January 20, 2014 or earlier) FIAT intends to make payment to the VEBA Trust of the aggregate consideration and thereafter receive the special distribution when it is the 100% owner of Chrysler Group.