FCA union employees sue UAW, company over corruption scandal

DETROIT -- Three Fiat Chrysler employees filed a federal lawsuit against the automaker and the UAW seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that union leaders colluded with company officials to influence collective bargaining agreements.

Michigan law firm Sterling Attorneys at Law on Friday filed the complaint, which seeks class-action status, in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The three FCA employees say they are also representing thousands of other union workers.

The complaint cites a statement filed last week as part of a plea deal by former FCA Vice President Alphons Iacobelli, in which he said he "knowingly and voluntarily joined a conspiracy in which FCA and FCA executives and FCA employees agree to pay and deliver, and willfully paid and delivered, money and things of value to officers and employees of the UAW."

Iacobelli pleaded guilty last week to two of seven charges related to his role in siphoning more than $4.5 million in training center funds to union and company officials.

For the first time since the investigation was made public in July, the feds say that the alleged actions were intended to influence union decisions and collective bargaining agreements, which were ratified in 2011 and 2015.

According to the plea agreement, Iacobelli admitted to transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars in prohibited payments to charities controlled by UAW officials. The agreement said he authorized paying off the $262,000 mortgage of former UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who died in March 2015, and his wife, Monica Morgan.

The agreement states that Iacobelli used FCA funds to pay out more than $1.5 million in cash and items of value to UAW officials and employees to obtain concessions for FCA in negotiating and implementing collective bargaining agreements between the automaker and the union, and to influence union decisions on pension funds.

The plea deal also states that he authorized secret payments of $50,000 each to select UAW officials.

The Friday complaint argues that UAW members "paid tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in Union dues for a transaction tainted by the conspiracy between FCA and the UAW."

In a letter to union members last week, UAW President Dennis Williams said "there is simply no truth to the claim that this misconduct compromised the negotiation of our collective bargaining agreement or had any impact on union funds."

The UAW on Monday also denied that the secret $50,000 payments were ever made, the Detroit Free Press reported.

One of the plaintiffs, Brian Keller, has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for a retainer fee to hire Sterling Attorneys at Law. So far, he has received more than $2,000 in donations.