Three men fired by Hughes Aircraft Co....

Three men fired by Hughes Aircraft Co. in 1986 over allegations that they mischarged the government $174,000 on a contract for the Army’s M-1 tank have served a $22-million wrongful-discharge suit on the company. An attorney for the men, all former managers at Hughes’ plant in El Segundo, said the firings were intended to make the employees scapegoats in an effort to deflect Pentagon scrutiny from a practice of shifting costs among various contracts. Hughes spokesman Lee Pitt said company officials wouldn’t comment because the matter is in court. Plaintiffs are Robert Stronks, former assistant program manager for the tank program; Bernard Shatz, former program manager, and Kenneth Uran, also a program manager.