3rd noose-shaped rope found at Windsor Assembly Plant
A third noose-shaped rope was discovered at the Windsor Assembly Plant where police are investigating a case of harassment.
Rob Petroni, spokesperson for LIUNA Local 625, said one of his members — a 52-year-old black man — claims he found a rope tied into the shape of a noose on a golf cart he was using while on his afternoon shift Thursday. The man is a construction worker subcontracted to help upgrade the plant.
Police said after officials began an internal investigation into the incident, another employee located a second noose on Friday targeting the same man.
That noose was allegedly left in the same worker's station.
Petroni tells CBC News a third incident involving a noose has taken place.
"The victim is shaken," Petroni said.
"The worst part is you don't know who the person is and you're not sure what the next step is. Is it an escalation? Is the person going to go away? Where do they go next?"
Windsor Police are working with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, who operate the assembly plant, and union leaders to determine who is responsible.
"We are going to do everything in our means to try to identify a person of interest and try to see it we can try to attribute this to somebody," Windsor Police Sergeant Matthew D'Asti said.
"I know that our detectives will be investigating not only the person who found the rope but other employees who may have seen something in the vicinity of that location."
'Unacceptable'
Karl Lovett, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 773 in Windsor, said he has received many calls from his members in light of the case.
"Everybody on the job was furious," said Lovett. "They're really outraged and enraged."
Thousands of contractors are currently working on retooling the Windsor Assembly Plant, where the next generation Chrysler minivan will be produced.
"Somebody had to have seen something," Lovett said, citing that if the person(s) responsible was a member of his union, he would not hesitate to fire them.
"I would make sure it would come down on them because it's completely unacceptable ... the person would definitely be facing expulsion from the union," he said. "We don't know who did it or what trade did it but somebody did it and they should definitely pay the piper."
FCA Canada issued a statement which read in part: "FCA Canada has a zero-tolerance policy regarding harassment or discrimination of any kind. This policy applies not only to our own employees, but also to vendors or contractors working at our facilities. We are currently working in cooperation with local authorities to investigate a recent allegation of workplace harassment made at our plant."
'Hate crime'
African-Canadian heritage consultant Elise Harding-Davis calls the event a hate crime.
"For someone to be confronted with a noose hanging where they work, is a hate crime. I mean, that's the worst kind of racial prejudice you can possibly have that someone would be that mean and nasty to do something like that to try to intimidate somebody," she said.
"Discrimination is against the law. And nobody should be subjected to that kind of intimidation to make a living."
