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Activists target Michigan company facing racial harassment allegations

United Electrical Contractors facing accusations of harassment, discrimination

Derick Hutchinson, Lead Digital Editor

Published: May 2, 2022, 1:45 PM

Tags: Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan, Lawsuit, Racial Harassment, Harassment, Discrimination, United Electrical Contractors, National Action Network, Godfrey Hotel, Corktown

LANSING, Mich. – An activist group is targeting a Michigan company that’s already facing a federal lawsuit containing allegations of racial harassment on the job.

PREVIOUS: Former employees of United Electrical Contractors allege ‘rampant racism’ in lawsuit

The National Action Network voiced frustrations that Michigan tax dollars are going to United Electrical Contractors. The Lansing-based company is a subcontractor working on the $74 million Godfrey Hotel in Corktown.

The project is benefitting from development incentives in the form of tax breaks.

Former employees have sued United Electrical Contractors, alleging a pattern of harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit was introduced in January, and litigation is pending.

United Electrical Contractors released a statement calling the lawsuit an “ongoing harassment campaign by a union.” The statement also says that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has declined to take action on some of the allegations included in the suit.

The company says employees receive diversity training, and that, “We are proud of our diverse and talented workforce.”

Here’s the full statement from United Electrical Contractors:

This litigation is part of an ongoing harassment campaign by a union, designed to interfere with our company’s operations and relationships. We take any claims of discrimination extremely seriously and have a track record of doing so. When several of these same plaintiffs filed allegations against us with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last year, we conducted a thorough, independent review, revealing nothing to substantiate the claims. And the EEOC has since declined to take action on those claims.
Notably, the EEOC had not yet even completed its review of the previously filed claims at the time, yet new, previously unreported allegations were nonetheless publicly released by the IBEW and its lawyers. And not only did the IBEW’s lawyers refuse to even participate in mediation at the EEOC level, they have now gone back to the well and are publicly trumpeting new allegations that were never even submitted to the EEOC. This further establishes that the actual goal of the union with these claims is to harass and cause harm to our company.
Prior to filing the EEOC claims and this lawsuit, the IBEW’s lawyers also attempted to use the threat of the same to coerce UEC to become a union shop despite the fact that UEC’s employees overwhelmingly oppose it. The union has had a billboard near our Lansing office for years and has continuously made unsolicited contact with our employees via phone, text, mail, email, and social media, on jobsites, and even at our employees’ homes when they are enjoying family time, often times despite numerous requests from our employees that they be left alone. In apparent recognition that they are unable to win over the hearts and minds of UEC’s employees, the union has abandoned their failed recruitment campaign and transitioned to a pure smear campaign strategy. In short, because they can’t compete fairly in the marketplace, they are resorting to defamation and attempted character assassination to cause harm to our company and our employees.
We are proud of our diverse and talented workforce. Diversity is one of our core values and key differentiators of our company, which is why our employees receive diversity training. We also appreciate the ongoing support of our customers, who trust the quality and reliability of our team, while respecting the values of our company.
United Electrical Contractors

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About the Author

Derick Hutchinson

Derick is the Lead Digital Editor for ClickOnDetroit and has been with Local 4 News since April 2013. Derick specializes in breaking news, crime and local sports.

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