General Motors CEO Mary Barra will sit out an award ceremony held by the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. Monday following protests from a group of family and friends of individuals killed in recalled GM vehicles, Automotive News reports.
Barra was among four honorees to attend the gala, where she would also be receiving an award named after former Washington Post President Katharine Graham. A letter sent and signed by friends and family members of victims of crashes in defective GM cars urged co-chairs of the committee to not give Barra the award.
“While we recognize that Mrs. Barra is the first woman to be named CEO of an American auto company, her first year in this position is only credited with one record so far — a record number of vehicle safety recalls connected to nearly 32 deaths and thousands of injuries,” the letter read.
The Women’s History Museum said it’s honoring Barra because “GM is driving to become the global industry leader in automotive design and technology, product quality and safety, customer care and business results.” Despite the outcry, they will bestow the award on Barra anyway.
“As the first female CEO of a leading automaker, Mary Barra has shattered the notion that the highest ranks of a traditionally male-dominated industry are reserved for men,” the museum said in a statement.
The letter, which accuses Barra of having a “lack of transparaency and accountability,” was signed by Laura Christian, the mother of a crash victim and one of the leading critics against GM’s handling of its ignition switch recall.
Comments
So Marry Barra is the only person to blame for all GM recalls? Really….
she was head of product development before CEO?
I looked up Ms. Christian’s story. I am sorry that she lost her birth daughter, but I have no sympathy that she got in her car that night and what resulted. I worked at Domino’s with a young woman back in 2003. She had some friends coming in from out of town and needed someone to cover for her (she worked later than I did on the weekends) and I gladly obliged. She and her fiance were a block from their destination when a 16 year old drunk driver ran a red light. Sadly, her life was taken from her that night, her fiance barely survived.
Laura Christian is nothing but a grandstander guided by a lawyer some where looking for money.
Here is the full story.
Laura Christian put her daughter up for adoptions and after birth has nothing to do with her till she was 15 years old.
Amber the night of the accident was going 69 MPH at 3:30 AM on a short street with a speed limit of 25 MPH that ended in a Cul-de-sac. At which point the car went off the road since it ended and hit several trees and ended up on it’s side.
Amber who was 16 was killed at the scene and was found unbelted and has a blood alcohol count of .17.
She had a fight with her boyfriend and left the party mad and drove off in rage.
The Family who adopted Amber have already reached a settlement for Amber but as of yet nothing has been offered to her birth mother who really had little to do with her for 15 of her 16 years. Yet she is the one grand standing at every possible GM event. It appears she is being directed to do this by a lawyer who will try to get money out of GM just to shut her up and they will take the majority of the money. It is documented that she is legally going after GM even after the adopted family had already settled on this death.
Even if the air bag had worked the odds are slim that she would have survived as a crash at that speed in any car of this size would often prove fatal with no seat belt used in this kind of an accident.
I do not mean to be harsh here but not all so called victims are really much of a victim at all. I am sure she had some feelings here but she really has no real case here as the skin she had in this game she gave away years ago.
Her family that raiser her got a settlement and if they want to share it with the birth mother that is up to them. As I see it they and GM own Laura Christian nothing.
My question what was a 16 year old girl doing out at 3:30 AM drunk anyways?
Bad behavior should not be rewarded Corporate or personal. This money should have been paid to MADD or someone else that it may do some good for others.
Why they don’t blame GM CEO for that period????????????
Does this really even need a comment?! Sheesh…
Mary Barra should go and receive the award just to prove two points against the protestors:
1. She was NOT the cause or involved with those incidents or deaths.
2. She has activated a widespread series of reclass for present and potential problems at GM’s costs, so she is proactive and preventive.