ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Rev. Jesse Jackson ended an eight-month boycott against Mitsubishi on Wednesday, saying the automaker was committed to reforms that include increasing the number of minority and women dealers.
The company also will rehire women who lost their jobs or quit after filing lawsuits that alleged Mitsubishi allowed sexual harassment at its plant in Normal, Ill.
Jackson, at a news conference with Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, said the boycott had convinced Mitsubishi ``to end the hostile workplace environment for women and people of color [and] pursue vigorously the resolution of this sex and race harassment crisis.''
Neither Jackson nor Mitsubishi executives offered an estimate of what the picketing and boycott may have cost the company.
``We look at the boycott as more a stigma on our name than impact on our balance sheet,'' said Richard Recchia, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America.
In Peoria, Ill., Patricia Benassi, lawyer for 28 of the 29 women whose lawsuits are pending, said she had not yet heard from Mitsubishi about restoring jobs.
She said seven or eight of the plaintiffs had been fired, some left work on disability caused in part by being harassed, and some still were working.
She asserted that Mitsubishi continued to bury them in subpoenas and depositions and called Wednesday's announcement disingenuous.
The lawsuits are in the discovery phase to determine the facts, said Kohei Ikuta, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America. He said all parties were anxious to proceed as rapidly as possible.
Ikuta said he wanted the women to return ``to help set the cornerstone for the workplace environment we are building.''
He said that by next month, all 4,200 employees at the Normal, Ill., plant will have taken what he described as ``one of the most comprehensive sexual-harassment training programs in the automotive industry.''
Recchia said Mitsubishi's minority-and women-owned dealerships would be increased from the current 10 percent to 15 percent in five years, and would be provided company-assisted funding, if necessary, for the $3 million to $4 million capital investment needed for each franchise.
``So many corporations have not yet made this step - Honda, a thousand dealerships, two black; Lexus, one; Mercedes, one,'' Jackson said.
Mitsubishi also is expanding its business with minority-owned suppliers and advertising agencies, Recchia said.
In addition to the individual lawsuits against Mitsubishi, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has also filed a class-action lawsuit. It charges that the company permitted men to fondle, proposition and threaten women at the plant in Normal.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Mitsubishi Vice President Kohei Ikuta shakes handsby CNBWednesday with Patricia Ireland, president of the National
Organization for Women, as the Rev. Jesse Jackson looks on. color.