Titan denies sexual harassment allegations at Des Moines factory

DES MOINES, Iowa (Jan. 18)—Titan International Inc. and the governor of Iowa are at odds over allegations that several Bosnian women working at the company´s Des Moines tire plant have been sexually harassed and blackmailed. Iowa Governor Thomas J. Vilsack wrote a letter dated Jan. 9 to Titan CEO and President Maurice Taylor Jr., saying he had heard an allegation that "Bosnian women have been asked to perform non-consensual acts of a sexual nature in order to keep their job or avoid further complications with the (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service)." On Jan. 12, Taylor wrote a response to Vilsack regarding the allegations, saying it shocked him that the governor "would take these ludicrous accusations seriously." A Jan. 15 letter to Vilsack, signed by the nine Bosnian women who work at the plant, said the rumors were false and had saddened them.