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State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of minority employees of Daimler Trucks North America, alleging the company ignored decades of racial intimidation at the Portland manufacturing plant.
Avakian's actions elevate complaints, first reported Sept. 3 in WW, from four African-American employees at Daimler's Swan Island manufacturing plant who say the company failed to stop on-going threats and harassment from their co-workers.
"There's probable cause that a number of employees were severely harassed, threatened and treated unfairly over a long period of time because of their race or their color," Avakian tells WW.
Among the allegations in Avakian's complaint, black workers faced being called "nigger," "boy," "buckwheat" and "Toby." The complaint also says Daimler failed to discipline a worker who last year allegedly dangled a noose in front of an African-American co-worker, then threatened to "hogtie" him and drag him behind a truck.
"Minority employees made numerous complaints," Avakian writes in the complaint. "The harassment continued, and in some instances the harassment escalated. Those working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person in the individual's circumstances would have resigned."
A Daimler spokesman says the company is cooperating with the state investigation.
"Daimler Trucks North America takes these allegations very seriously," says spokesman Dave Giroux, "and its efforts are focused on continuing to work with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to provide relevant information requested in conjunction with the investigation."
Daimler has begun construction on a new $150 million North American headquarters building on Swan Island, using $20 million in state and city subsidies.
This is the sixth time since being appointed labor commissioner in 2008 that Avakian has filed what's called a "commissioner's complaint." It is intended to protect workers from possible retaliation by making the state one of the complainants.
"The allegations in this case are particularly alarming," Avakian tells WW, "and certainly will be dealt with seriously."
UPDATE, 1:15 pm: Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has issued a statement saying he's "very concerned" by the allegations.
"We are very concerned about the allegations contained in Commissioner Avakian's complaint and will monitor the state's investigation very closely," Hales says. "I expect Daimler and the union representatives to fully cooperate with the state's investigation. Anything less than a safe, professional work environment, free of racism and harassment, is completely unacceptable."
WWeek 2015