UAW Files $3.5 Million WARN Act Lawsuit Against PACCAR

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 19, 2002; The United Auto Workers filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against PACCAR, Inc. in federal court in Nashville today.

The legal action charges that some 500 members of UAW Local 1832, who received layoff notices on August 26, 2002 were cheated out of seven weeks worth of paychecks when the company locked them out on September 3, 2002.

"It's the law: If you're going to lay somebody off, you have to give them 60 days notice, and you have to pay them during those 60 days," said Gary Casteel, Director of UAW Region 8, referring to the federal Worker Adjustment, Retraining, and Notification (WARN) Act.

The lockout took place at the Peterbilt heavy truck factory in Madison, Tennessee. Peterbilt is a unit of Bellevue, Washington-based PACCAR, one of the nation's leading truck manufacturers.

"Our members didn't get their 60 days," said Casteel. "Peterbilt announced 500 layoffs on August 26, and a week later, they locked those workers out, with no pay, no benefits, no anything."

"We believe the company owes our members seven weeks pay, and we want Peterbilt to live up to its obligations," said Mike Pardue, president of UAW Local 1832. Seven weeks pay for 500 workers, he said, adds up to approximately $3.5 million, including wages and other compensation.

Peterbilt locked out 750 members of Local 1832 -- including 500 who had received layoff notices -- after a contract between UAW members and the company had expired, and the two sides had not reached a new agreement.

The company may owe eight weeks of compensation, union officials say, to the 250 workers who were locked out on September 3, with no advance warning whatsoever.

The lockout was "totally unnecessary," said Pardue. Union members offered to return to work under terms of the expired agreement. "Our members were -- and are -- ready, willing and able to work, but the company won't let us do our jobs."

The union has previously filed unfair labor practice charges against Peterbilt, stating that the failure to reach a new agreement was caused in large part by the company's refusal to provide information necessary for bargaining.

"This company had an obligation to provide 60 days of pay to workers after giving notice of a layoff," said Tennessee State Rep. Mike Turner, whose district includes the Madison plant. "Instead, they locked out these workers, and many of them are now receiving unemployment benefits from our state instead of the paychecks they should be getting from PACCAR."

"I don't think profitable corporations should be allowed to transfer their obligations to the taxpayers of Tennessee," said Turner.

"The actions of PACCAR executives illustrate why so many Americans are gravely concerned right now about the quality of leadership in corporate America," said Rev. Eugene TeSelle, professor emeritus at the Vanderbilt University School of Divinity, and former chair of the University's Faculty Senate.

"These executives rewarded themselves with $2.4 million in bonuses last year. This year, they demanded extraordinary concessions from workers while using stalling tactics at the bargaining table. Now, they appear to have staged a lockout as a way to evade their legal responsibility to provide two months of income security to workers who are about to lose their jobs."

"PACCAR can do better than this for workers who have helped the company earn a profit every year for the past 62 years," said TeSelle. "I urge them to do better."

In Seattle, Steve Williamson, executive secretary of the King County Labor Council, said the Seattle-area labor movement is united in support of locked- out UAW members.

"PACCAR is based here, and we follow this company closely," said Williamson. "Their actions in Tennessee are just plain wrong. We're going to support UAW members every way we can -- and we're going to make sure that PACCAR management is aware of our concerns."