The roots of this convoluted tale trace back to 2011, when Stellantis-owned FCA uprooted these engineers from their Auburn Hills base to Trenton, Michigan. The transfer, they claimed, was a breach of their collective bargaining agreement – denying them relocation allowances and more. This grievance, filed in 2015, was the first domino to fall.
A Tangled Web of Greed and Deception
The plot thickened in 2017 with the revelation of a grand bribery scandal. FCA executives, in a move straight out of a corporate thriller, were accused of funneling millions in illegal payments and extravagant gifts to top UAW officials. The aim? To tip the scales in their favor during collective bargaining. The UAW, in a controversial twist, withdrew the grievance, leaving the engineers in a legal limbo.
It wasn’t until 2018 that the same grievance was refiled, and the UAW, after nearly two years, found merit in the engineers’ claim, paving the way for the 2020 lawsuit.
The Legal Labyrinth: Navigating the Statute of Limitations
The panel, in their Wednesday revelation, highlighted a crucial point: the six-month window for the engineers’ claims under the Labor Management Relations Act began ticking in 2015, with the filing of the initial grievance. The engineers, aware of the UAW’s abandonment of their claim, unwittingly let the sands of time run out.
