"We will not be held back by this action”. This is what the CEO of writes fca, Mike Manley, in a letter addressed to employees after the American GM announced a lawsuit against the Italian-American group. General Motors accuses the competitor of bribing three leaders of the American union United Auto Workers, "but the complaint rehashes a set of salacious public accusations about pending legal issues in Detroit and, at first glance, beyond unsustainable speculation, does not present any new documented allegations".
On the occasion of the Exor investor day in Turin, the president of FCA, John Elkann, pointed out that the lawsuit of GM "it is groundless and as such – he added – it does not worry us. Personally I am sorry that false actions are taken against a person who has done as much as Sergio Marchionne, who is not here to defend himself".
FCA confirms in a note that "it will defend itself with all its might", in the belief that GM's accusations "are nothing more than a baseless attempt to divert attention from the challenges of that society. This perplexing move comes at a time when FCA is proving to be an increasingly strong competitor and continues to create significant value for all of its stakeholders by successfully implementing its long-term strategy. This includes its plan to merge with PSA, which for its part has successfully completed the turnaround of the European businesses it recently bought from GM. FCA will lead this extraordinary attempt to create a necessary diversion and will continue to focus on producing record results and realizing its exciting vision of the future of the automotive industry. FCA has confidence that it will prevail in defending these allegations in court and intends to avail itself of all available protections in response to this groundless cause".
Elkann added that between now and the end of the year a memorandum of understanding will arrive with PSA in view of the merger.
According to General Motors, among the Uaw executives corrupted by FCA there would also be the president of the union, Gary Jones, who has already resigned due to accounting irregularities that emerged from internal investigations. The goal would have been to get gods advantages in contract negotiations.
In particular, the accusation refers to the union agreements of the 2011 and 2015, but also to the pact signed in 2009 with Sergio Marchionne, the understanding that made Chrysler's bailout possible. GM brings up the same thing Marchionne, which would have authorized the bribes in favor of the trade unionists to damage GM and favor the integration plan between the two houses. Marchionne is defined as a "central figure” in the scheme of bribes. Among the evidences of the prosecution there would also be the adhesion of the union to the introduction of the Wcm, the Japanese production system, in the factories of Detroit.
