Two big bombshells in Detroit. Gary Jones, president of the United Automobile Workers union, has resigned from his role, while automobile manufacturing group General Motors has filed a lawsuit against competitor Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over alleged corruption. GM accuses FCA of having bribed representatives of the UAW in order to obtain “unique advantages, different and distinct”, a move that was intended to weaken GM and encourage it to merge with FCA. Dubbed ‘Operation Cylinder’, the push for a merger was led by late Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne but ultimately proved unsuccessful. Mary Barra, CEO of GM, firmly refused the merger operation in 2015.
This complex case dates back to 17 months ago, with a federal probe led by the FBI. Thirteen people were accused of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud, with ten ultimately convicted. One of the key individuals in the case is Alphons Iacobelli, who led labour relations at FCA, and was the UAW’s point of contact when the two parties conducted multi-year pay negotiations in 2009, 2011 and 2015. The FCA exec turned a blind eye as UAW officials made use of a credit card linked to a training ce
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