In the shit bowl of heavy industry, where corporations grind out profits like they’re chewing grit, Cummins keeps bedding down with partners that stink of scandal. They’ve been cosying up to Komatsu since the 1980s, stuffing engines into their haul trucks and loaders, even as Komatsu drags a trail of wartime complicity from the 1930s, mass layoffs after swallowing Joy Global, environmental fines for polluting without remorse, worker deaths from safety lapses, and a harassment lawsuit exposing a culture that ignored pleas until it was too late – not to mention their half-arsed Ukraine response, halting shipments but keeping Russian ops alive with a token million-euro donation. Cummins overlooks it all, fresh off their own $1.675 billion emissions cheating fine, and now in 2025, they’re tripling down with a new hybrid mining powertrain deal involving Komatsu and Wabtec, where Wabtec supplies drive systems meshing with Cummins’ engines. It’s sold as green innovation, decarbonisation bollocks to polish their image, but it’s just more complicity: Wabtec, another tainted cog in the Cummins ecosystem, sliding in without a glance at their own controversies. If Cummins won’t vet their mates, someone has to expose the rot.

Bribes and Backhanders: Wabtec’s Indian Fiasco

Kick off with the old-school graft that reeks of desperation. From 2001 to 2005, Wabtec’s Indian subsidiary, Pioneer Friction Limited, allegedly dished out $137,400 in improper payments to Indian Railways Board officials to secure inspections and shipping certificates. This breached the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In February 2008, Wabtec settled with the Department of Justice for $300,000 and the SEC for $288,351 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties, without admitting wrongdoing, but vowing compliance tweaks. An Indian probe closed in 2013 without charges, yet the sleaze lingers, eroding faith in global chains. And Cummins? They still partner up, ignoring how ethics warp like overheated rails.

Boycotts and Bullshit: Violating U.S. Antiboycott Rules

Between 2016 and 2021, Wabtec flouted U.S. antiboycott regs 13 times, supplying forbidden info on ties with boycotted nations or blacklisted entities, aiding unsanctioned boycotts like the Arab League’s against Israel. In January 2024, the Bureau of Industry and Security hit them with a $153,175 civil penalty. They cooperated and mended ways, but how many deals got soiled? This enables fractures in an already divided world. Cummins turns a blind eye, prioritising hybrid tech over integrity.

Merger Mayhem: Antitrust Allegations and No-Poach Schemes

The $11 billion GE Transportation merger in February 2019 was Wabtec’s power grab, but rival Progress Rail sued in 2023, alleging dominance abuse – 75% of North American diesel long-haul locos, data restrictions, cost hikes for competitors, and false claims about Progress Rail exiting. A Delaware federal court dismissed antitrust claims in June 2025, ruling no competition harm from the merger, though contract breach elements persist. Wabtec denies it.

Worse, Wabtec and Knorr-Bremse allegedly ran no-poach pacts, barring hires from each other to suppress wages and mobility. In August 2020, they settled class actions for $48.95 million to affected workers, post-DOJ scrutiny in 2018. Toss in a $36.95 million price-fixing settlement that year for rail gear. Cartel antics screwing the workforce, yet Cummins sees fit to collaborate, overlooking the rot for revenue.

Worker Wars: Strikes, Safety Screw-Ups, and Labour Violations

Post-merger, Wabtec sparked a 128-day strike by 1,700 Erie workers in February 2019, ditching GE contracts, imposing two-tier wages, and mandating overtime sans premiums – while execs grabbed $60 million. Bernie Sanders slammed it as outrageous. Another strike hit in June 2023 over grievances and breaches, ending tentatively in August. Resentment boils.

Safety fines stack up: OSHA dinged them $40,917 in 2021, $15,400 in 2023, and more back to 2007. Environmental hits include a $9,000 Texas waste fine in 2022, $151,200 EPA penalty in 2016 for subsidiary Longwood. NLRB settlements for unfair practices: $230,000 in 2009, others trailing. A 2015 NHTSA $1.75 million fine for wheelchair lift flaws. Workers shafted, environments fouled – Cummins dives in regardless.

South African Shenanigans and Data Disasters

In April 2025, a South African court voided an R8 billion ($425 million) deal for 233 diesel locos between Transnet and a Wabtec unit (ex-GE), citing procurement irregularities amid Zuma-era state capture scandals – inflated contracts, kickbacks galore. It’s part of Transnet’s graft cleanup.

Layer on a 2022 data breach: hackers infiltrated in March, spotted in June, with LockBit claiming it and leaking samples in August. Customer data exposed, cybersecurity exposed as lax. Wabtec’s cycle: blunders, payouts, rinse, repeat. Cummins, post their own scandals, shrugs it off – just another ecosystem excuse.

The Rotten Core: Cummins’ Blind Spot

Wabtec’s ledger is grim: bribes, boycotts, mergers, mistreatment. Cummins ignores it, like with Komatsu’s horrors, forging ahead in this 2025 partnership. It’s not advancement; it’s sustaining a setup where scandals are sidelined, labour disposable, the planet collateral. And until we take a stand these partnerships will rake in millions at our expense. At the world’s expense. Fuck that.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Supplier Series : Wabtec – A Riddled Participant in Cummins’ New Ménage à Trois