By Doug Cunningham

At a plant in Belvidere, Illinois fifty current and former Chrysler workers have filed a class action lawsuit against Daimler-Chrysler, the International UAW and UAW Local 1268. The suit is over a two-tier wage and benefit system. The suit filed in federal court in Chicago claims they were deceived into taking temporary jobs at much lower pay than UAW workers were getting. Kim Francke is one of the people hired by Chrysler. She says they were forced to sign illegal contracts after they had already quit their previous jobs and had no idea they were not being hired as permanent full-fledged members of the UAW at Chrysler.

[Francke 1]: “We thought we were going in with full benefits, full pay. I mean, obviously, you know they started us lower scale, But we didn’t know
we were only going to make seventy percent for two years, if we lasted for two years.”

Francke has since lost her temporary Chrysler job and is struggling to make ends meet as a single mom. She hopes the suit wins back pay and punitive damages for her and the rest of the workers.