ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORMAL, ILL.
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and The Washington Post
MITSUBISHI IS FIGHTING charges of widespread sexual harassment hard - and urging employees to help.
Hit with a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at its assembly plant here, Mitsubishi is rallying its employees to fight back, warning them that a bad reputation for the automaker could cost business and jobs.
Mitsubishi has set up a telephone bank so workers can call the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Congress and the White House to dispute the allegations. It is helping organize an employee march on the EEOC's Chicago office next week, shutting down production at the auto plant so people can attend.
``Everybody here feels like a victim now. ... Now they've got to go home and explain to their children, and husbands have to say to their wives, `It's not me, honey,''' said Dean Derbyshire, an assistant general manager in purchasing.
Marcia Moncelle, a leader in the employee petition and fund-raising drive, said Wednesday, ``The charges and the allegations are outrageous. I've worked here almost eight years, and I haven't seen the things they say are happening,''
The EEOC last week filed a class-action lawsuit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America Inc., and 29 women are suing the company on their own. The EEOC lawsuit alleges that up to 700 women at the Normal plant in central Illinois were groped, fondled and subjected to obscene remarks and sexually explicit graffiti for years while managers did nothing. There are 700 women among the 4,000 employees at the plant.
The number of women and the possible damages - $300,000 each - make it the biggest sexual harassment lawsuit ever filed by the EEOC.
Two days after the company was named in the federal case, top plant officials called employees together and warned that people could lose their jobs if the allegations caused sales to drop.
The employee meetings came amid rising tensions in the plant and the community.
Friday night, the day after the meetings, the house of human resources manager Pat Walter, who had spoken in support of the company at the meetings - burned down.
``When you enter the [Mitsubishi] building, you can feel the hatred,'' said one male worker who asked not to be named. ``You can cut the tension in there like a knife.''
The factory has helped build the local economy, providing 4,000 of the best-paying blue-collar jobs in the area. Some community residents say they are worried about the potential financial impact. Few want to be publicly quoted on the issue.
``They make a lot of money,'' said a woman who works at a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant. ``Why ruin something that's good for the town?''
Gary Shultz, Mitsubishi spokesman and general counsel, said he encourages employees to speak out against the allegations.
``All these sorts of things are helpful, and it shows what the atmosphere truly is. We've got to get the story out,'' Shultz said. The employees are ``concerned that this has given a black eye to Mitsubishi and it might affect the company in the marketplace. I told them that is a concern. It's too early to tell the impact at this point, but it is a concern.''
Some employees say the allegations have more to do with personality than harassment. Some women, they say, are overreacting to juvenile jokes or reasonable criticism of their performance.
But some employees would speak only if their names were not used, citing fear of retribution and a reluctance to become embroiled in the controversy.
One employee said he often heard complaints of sexual harassment while serving on a union committee. ``They couldn't get any relief from the union, and they couldn't get any relief from the company,'' he said.
Margaret Coleman, one of the women suing, said a co-worker would slap her rear, a supervisor would grab her underwear, people would call her names - and when she complained, she was told ``to keep my big mouth shut.'' She quit after three years.
``It was really hard to go into that place every day. It's demeaning,'' Coleman said. ``It just eats you up on the inside.''
The commission alleges that most of the harassment was committed by other assembly-line workers and low-level managers, but higher-level managers tolerated an atmosphere of sexual harassment.
Mitsubishi attorney Roy F. Davis has asked the court for documents on the women involved in a private lawsuit against the company, including complete gynecological records, information on abortions, divorce records, the names and addresses of people with whom they have cohabitated as well as the womens' credit card records. Mitsubishi said it would make the documents available to 13 of its top executives.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 linesby CNB