Volkswagen settled a 1983 discrimination suit with the United Auto Workers to settle claims that they discriminated against black employees at Westmoreland Assembly. Plaintiffs had sought $70 million when filing suit, charging that management had initiated or tolerated "a pattern and practice" of limited hirings and promotions of blacks, that blacks were also subject to arbitrary firings and demotions and that the company openly allowed racial insults and threats in the workplace. Volkswagen of America Inc. denied the charges and later settled the case in 1989, paying 800 plaintiffs $670,000 and the United Auto Workers $48,000. The most prominent black executive at the Westmoreland factory and spokesman for the "VW Black Caucus" committed suicide, bringing further notoriety to the suit.
