The Latest: UAW President Gary Jones steps down
DETROIT (AP) — The Latest on General Motors’ lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler (all times local):
5:10 p.m.
United Auto Workers President Gary Jones has resigned, effective immediately, his attorney says.
The move comes shortly after the union’s international executive board filed paperwork to oust Jones and Regional Director Vance Pearson.
Both men have been implicated in a wide-ranging federal bribery and embezzlement scandal at the union. Pearson has been charged, but Jones has not.
Attorney Bruce Maffeo in New York says Jones made the decision to step down before learning of the move to oust him. Maffeo says he did so to let the union focus on its core mission of improving the lives of members and their families.
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3:25 p.m.
Leaders of the United Auto Workers union are trying to force President Gary Jones and Regional Director Vance Pearson out of office due to a widening federal bribery and embezzlement probe.
The union says in a statement Wednesday that its executive board filed papers under the UAW’s constitution to expel the men from the union.
The papers say that Jones and Pearson directed submission of bogus expense records and concealed where the money went, violating ethics procedures and federal labor laws.
Pearson has been charged with embezzling thousands of to pay for expensive cigars and wines, golf greens fees, clothing and to rent a lavish villa in California. Jones has not been charged but federal authorities raided his suburban Detroit home in August.
The move comes amid a lawsuit filed by General Motors against Fiat Chrysler on Wednesday alleging that its crosstown rival bribed union officials to get lower labor costs.
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1:35 p.m.
Fiat Chrysler says it will defend itself vigorously against a lawsuit alleging that it bribed union officials to get an unfair labor cost advantage over General Motors.
The Italian-American automaker called the lawsuit filed Wednesday by GM “meritless” and said it would pursue all legal remedies in response.
Fiat Chrysler says in a statement that it’s astonished by the lawsuit and it assumes the legal action was intended to disrupt its proposed merger with France’s PSA Peugeot and ongoing contract talks with the United Auto Workers.
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1:20 p.m.
The United Auto Workers union says it had multiple safeguards in place to ensure the integrity of its contracts negotiated with Fiat Chrysler.
General Motors on Wednesday alleged in a lawsuit that FCA officials bribed union officials to get lower labor costs.
The union says in a statement that local and international union representatives were involved in the contracts and layers of checks and balances were in place.
The UAW says in a statement that it’s committed to make whatever changes are needed to make sure misconduct never happens again.
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12:55 p.m.
General Motors attorney Craig Glidden alleges that the United Auto Workers union allowed Fiat Chrysler to have more temporary workers and more workers who were paid at a lower wage scale.
GM is suing Fiat Chrysler, alleging that its crosstown rival got an unfair business advantage by bribing officials of the UAW.
Glidden says FCA was able to reduce its labor costs in the 2009, 2011 and 2015 contracts with the union. He says the same advantages were denied to GM as part of a bribery conspiracy. He says GM is not suing the UAW because it believes that FCA was responsible.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
A message was left seeking comment from Fiat Chrysler.
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12:30 p.m.
Craig Glidden, chief counsel for General Motors, alleges that Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who died last year, was a “central figure” in the company’s alleged racketeering, in which it paid millions in bribes to get concessions and gain advantages in three labor agreements with the United Auto Workers union. GM claims the conspiracy was designed to put it at a cost disadvantage to FCA.
“FCA’s manipulation of the collective bargaining process resulted in unfair labor costs and operational advantages for it, causing harm to GM,” Glidden said.
A message was Wednesday left seeking comment from Fiat Chrysler.
General Motors is suing Fiat Chrysler, alleging that its crosstown rival got an unfair business advantage by bribing officials of the United Auto Workers union.
The lawsuit also names former FCA labor relations chief Alphons Iacobelli, and former FCA officials Jerome Durden and Michael Brown as defendants. All have pleaded guilty in a federal corruption probe, which has alleged that Fiat Chrysler bribed UAW officials to keep them “fat, dumb and happy.”
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12:11 p.m.
General Motors is suing Fiat Chrysler, alleging that its crosstown rival got an unfair business advantage by bribing officials of the United Auto Workers union.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that FCA was involved in racketeering by paying millions in bribes to get concessions and gain advantages in three labor agreements with the union.
Details of the racketeering have been exposed in a federal probe of corruption at the union that has resulted in multiple arrests.
The lawsuit alleges that Fiat Chrysler corrupted the bargaining process with the UAW in the 2009, 2011 and 2015 union contracts to gain advantages over General Motors.
