Mitsubishi’s Promise of Reform Ends Boycott

The Rev. Jesse Jackson ended an eight-month boycott against Mitsubishi, saying the auto maker was committed to reforms that include increasing the number of minority and female dealers. The company also will rehire women who lost their jobs or quit after filing lawsuits that alleged Mitsubishi allowed sexual harassment at its plant in Normal, Ill. Jackson, at a news conference with Patricia Ireland, president of the National Organization for Women, said the boycott had persuaded Mitsubishi “to end the hostile workplace environment for women and people of color [and] pursue vigorously the resolution of this sex and race harassment crisis.� Neither Jackson nor Mitsubishi executives offered an estimate of what the picketing and boycott may have cost the company.