In Wake of EEOC Suit, Mitsubishi Rallies Its Workers to Fight Back

Hit with a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at an assembly plant, Mitsubishi is rallying its employees to fight back, warning them that a bad reputation for the auto maker 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. And 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.

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 for years while managers did nothing.

The number of women and the possible damages--$300,000 each--make it the biggest sexual harassment lawsuit ever filed by the EEOC. The factory provides 4,000 of the best-paying blue-collar jobs in the area.

Gary Shultz, Mitsubishi spokesman and general counsel, said employees are “concerned that this has given a black eye to Mitsubishi and it might affect the company in the marketplace.