The United Steelworkers Local 105 union confirmed its members would meet Thursday in Bettendorf for a vote to authorize any strike action against Arconic.
A former Arconic employee from the Davenport Works in Riverdale filed a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging religious discrimination against the global corporation headquartered in Pittsburgh.
According a news release from his attorneys, Dan Snyder was fired in June 2021 after Snyder made "a single religious comment … in attempting to respond to an anonymous company survey."
Snyder's attorneys allege Snyder expressed his objection to Arconic’s use of the rainbow to promote Gay Pride Month. Snyder said using the rainbow in this manner was "an abomination to God" because Snyder believes the rainbow "is not meant to be a sign for sexual gender."
His comments were posted publicly on the company intranet, which his lawyers said was not his intent.
Arconic notified him the statements had offended a fellow employee, and he was suspended and then terminated, allegedly for violating the company’s diversity policy, his lawyers said.
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Arconic declined to comment on Snyder's employment at Davenport Works and the reasons for his firing.
Snyder is represented by the Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based firm founded in 1997 and dedicated to litigating in defense of what it calls "Christian values." The firm has taken up cases against gay marriage, sided with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2018 in support of strict anti-abortion measures and played a major role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Snyder's attorneys claim he tried to negotiate with Arconic and pledged to never respond to company surveys. The attorneys said Arconic refused to offer a reasonable accommodation for his religious beliefs and rejected a letter from the Thomas More Society’s requesting a fair settlement, so Snyder filed this lawsuit.
"Arconic’s actions clearly violated Mr. Snyder’s right to be free from employment discrimination based on religion, as prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Iowa Civil Rights Act," Michael McHale, counsel at the Thomas More Society, said in the firm's news release. "His brief comment, in attempting to respond to a company web survey, was explicitly and facially religious. And yet Arconic made no effort to reasonably accommodate Mr. Snyder’s religious beliefs, even though it was a one-time statement that he had intended to be anonymous and private."
After reviewing the Thomas More Society's new release, Adam Peters, director of operations for Clock Inc. in Rock Island, a community center for LGBT+ people in the Quad-Cities, commented on the lawsuit.
"Mr. Snyder had the opportunity to hold on to his hurtful and bigoted beliefs while also working for the Arconic corporation," Peters wrote in a email. "Mr. Snyder chose to violate Arconic's Diversity Policy which clearly states 'We have zero tolerance for discrimination, intimidation, harassment, or retaliation of any kind.' Mr. Snyder was suspended and terminated because of this. Plain and simple. Thoughts and prayers to him and his case."
The Thomas More Society's public information representative did not respond to requests to speak with Snyder.
