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EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Mitsubishi is Settled

12 June 1998

UAW Comments on the Settlement of the EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Mitsubishi

    DETROIT, June 11 -- UAW Vice President Jack Laskowski,
director of the UAW Transnational Department, and Paul Korman, Director of UAW
Region 4, today issued the following statement on the settlement of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission's sexual harassment lawsuit against
Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America:

        "The UAW welcomes the news that a settlement has been reached between
    the EEOC and Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America.
        "This settlement sends the loud and clear message to employers and
    workers throughout the nation that sexual harassment -- indeed, all forms
    of harassment and discrimination -- are wrong and have no place in the
    American workplace.
        "The UAW takes sexual harassment very seriously and we have for a long
    time.  Sexual harassment violates the fundamental union value that every
    person is entitled to respect and dignity.
        "The UAW has worked to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace
    through contractual provisions as well as awareness, education, and
    training programs.
        "In July 1996, the UAW Civil Rights Department conducted intensive
    training sessions with UAW Local 2488 officers, bargaining committee
    members, civil rights committee members, and district coordinators.  This
    training was designed to make sure that Local 2488 leaders are aware of
    every tool available to them in assuring a work environment free of sexual
    harassment and intimidation.
        "In addition, at the UAW's initiative, the union and the company
    established a jointly-sponsored comprehensive sexual awareness program
    that involved virtually the entire workforce.
        "We believe that the consent decree, which the International Union and
    UAW Local 2488 have voluntarily joined, will put in place effective
    safeguards against sexual harassment, and we will work closely with the
    EEOC and Mitsubishi to implement them.
        "Finally, we encourage workers at Mitsubishi and every workplace to
    continue to speak out against sexual harassment and any other form of
    discrimination -- and to make full use of their union grievance procedure
    and other mechanisms, such as the EEOC, to protect their right to a
    workplace free of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination."