An employee working for a subcontractor of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles at the company’s Toledo Assembly Complex has been fired after hanging a noose inside the factory, an FCA spokesman said Friday.
Images of a thick, braided rope tied into a large noose began circulating on social media early Friday morning. Several people who shared the photograph said it was taken in the area of the plant’s paint shop.
In a statement, Fiat Chrysler said it has a zero-tolerance policy regarding any type of harassment or discrimination.
“All allegations are investigated fully and infractions are punishable up to and including termination,” the statement read. “The incident yesterday at the Toledo Assembly Complex involved an employee of a subcontractor, who has since been terminated by his employer. The FCA US standards of conduct apply not only to our own employees, but also to any vendor or contractor who is doing work on our premises.”
The employee was not identified, and an FCA spokesman declined to provide the name of the subcontracting firm.
Fiat Chrysler has about 6,000 employees at the plant, which builds the Jeep Wrangler.
Sha’nez Henry Allen, a health care professional and community activist who filmed himself going to the Jeep facility Friday morning in hopes of securing a meeting with FCA’s human resources department, said in a phone interview he was pleased both by the company’s willingness to listen to him and the swift action that was taken in firing the individual who was responsible.
“I didn’t expect it to go that fast but people talk. The thing about the whole issue is, we’re all people,” he said. “We bleed the same color blood. Race doesn't matter. Background doesn’t matter. But racism has become more prevalent in 2018.”
Mr. Allen said he heard about the noose late Thursday from several friends who work at the plant. His understanding from those conversations was that the noose was hung near a smoking area just outside the paint shop.
“I’m very happy that he was fired,” Mr. Allen said of the individual identified as being responsible for the noose.
As of Friday morning, no police report had been filed in relation to the incident, Lt. Kevan Toney said.
Attempts to reach representatives from United Auto Workers Local 12, which represents hourly employees at the plant, were unsuccessful Friday.
The situation at the Jeep plant — black employees finding a noose hanging within their workplace — is reminiscent of a pair of other incidents within the Toledo area over the last few years.
In 2016, United Parcel Service fired an employee at its Maumee distribution center after a pair of nooses were hung in the complex and photos were shared on social media. An investigation launched by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in response to that found a number of other racially charged comments and incidents, with the commission ultimately reporting it was likely UPS engaged in unlawful discriminatory practices.
And just this April, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission documented at least three instances in which nooses were hung within General Motors’ Toledo Transmission plant after receiving receiving five separate complaints of racial discrimination.
GM told investigators it had not been able to determine who was responsible for placing those nooses.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com, 419-724-6134, or on Twitter @TyrelLinkhorn.
First Published June 22, 2018, 6:53 p.m.
