Teamsters Join With Consumer Activists to Protest Fiat/Chrysler CEO at Auto Forum

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Mar 30, 2010, 10:57 ET

Move to Cut-rate Carhaulers Destroys Good Jobs, Can Cause Hidden Damages

NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This morning, representatives from the Teamsters Union and the consumer advocacy organization Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) demonstrated outside a speech by FIAT Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne at the National Automobile Dealers Association Auto Forum to protest Fiat/Chrysler and its move away from longtime professional carhaul companies to cheaper, less-experienced carriers.

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Outside the keynote speech by Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, protesters dressed as crash test dummies distributed leaflets directing them to the web site www.CarBuyersBeware.com.

"Fiat/Chrysler's actions to move work away from the professional, experienced companies that have safely delivered its cars for years threaten the jobs of 5,000 carhaul drivers," said Teamster Carhaul Division Director Fred Zuckerman.

The leaflet also referenced findings in the report, "Damaged When Delivered?" available at www.CarBuyersBeware.com. The report contains photographic evidence of the shoddy practices being used by alternative carriers to deliver new cars and trucks to auto dealers. The pictures, all taken recently, show the poor practices that can endanger new vehicles' frames, suspensions, tires and more.

"Based on evidence we've documented, we believe Chrysler and its cut-rate haulers are skirting even the most basic requirements for ensuring safe delivery," said CARS representative Christina Catalano, whose mother was killed by a defective Chrysler vehicle when it self-shifted into reverse.

"The theme of the auto forum was 'Transformation of the U.S. Economy and the Auto Industry.' But to save a few dollars per car, Fiat/Chrysler is going to transform a stable industry that provides good jobs and benefits into one that is a race to the bottom in terms of safety, wages, and benefits," Zuckerman said. "Fiat/Chrysler is also risking their new cars arriving at dealerships with hidden damages due to these cut-rate carriers hauling their vehicles improperly and unsafely."

FIAT/Chrysler received a $14 billion taxpayer bailout to help the American auto industry save jobs.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters