… it was a battlefield. When they saw each other or checked in by phone, as they did every day, they would let the other know, “I got your six,” the term soldiers use to say they have your back.
It was the kind of reassurance they felt they were not getting from GM management.
And then Brooks found a noose hanging in the area where he worked. As the only black employee in that space on his shift, he believed it was aimed to intimidate him.
It was a breaking point, the beginning of the end of his career — and that of Boyd — at GM. Not just because the noose had been hung. But because of how GM allegedly reacted.
GM: Every shift was trained
A noose that was found hanging in the plant and graffiti marking the bathroom “White’s Only.”
That first noose, and then a second, then third, fourth and fifth were all reported to GM, according to the lawsuit Boyd and eight other black employees have filed against the company for allowing an “underlying atmosphere of violent racial hate and bullying.”
GM rejects that characterization.
The company declined to be interviewed but provided a statement that it held mandatory meetings and closed the plant for a day to have training for every shift.
“Every day, everyone at General Motors is expected to uphold a set of values that are integral to the fabric of our culture,” GM said in the statement. “Discrimination and harassment are not acceptable and [are] in stark contrast to how we expect people to show up at work.”
It continued: “We treat any reported incident with sensitivity and urgency, and are committed to providing an environment that is safe, open and inclusive. General Motors is taking this matter seriously and addressing it through the appropriate court process.”
Boyd, Brooks and other black workers said initial meetings after the noose focused on violence, but not racial discrimination or intimidation.
GM, which declined to answer questions on the record after supplying the statement, placed an article about harassment in the employee magazine. The company replaced all ropes in the plant with…