ALDERMEN GET EARFUL ABOUT SEX HARASSMENT
3women tell of humiliation at Ford Chicago plants Harris accused of weakening hotel- worker protections
Three African- American women came forward Tuesday with vulgar stories about sexual harassment and bullying they say they endured working at Ford Motor Company’s two Chicago plants.
With 15 aldermen in rapt attention, Tonya Exum, Christie Van and Miyoshi Morris told of being greeted on their first day on the job with chants of “fresh meat.”
Not attending the hearing was Ald. Marty Quinn ( 13th). Kevin Quinn, his brother, lost his job as an aide to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan after being accused of sexual harassment.
The women said male colleagues masturbated on the assembly line, showed off pictures of their penises, groped and propositioned women and retaliated against those who refused to “go along with the program.”
Van said she was pulled into a room by a male co- worker who was 6- foot- 3- inches tall and weighed 300 pounds. There, she was thrown against a window, groped and dropped to the floor.
She chose to wear overalls to discourage lewd remarks and rampant propositioning, but it didn’t stop a male co- worker.
“He said, ‘ The bottom on you is unreal. I would love to see you in pink, pretty panties.’” A nearby supervisor “had nothing to say,” she said.
A supervisor she asked for a charging cord for her phone instead showed her a picture of his penis.
“I walked over to his supervisor and I said, ‘ He just showedme a picture of his penis,’” she recalled. The supervisor’s response was “‘ You want to see mine, too?’ He told me if I reported it, I’d be on the outside looking in and he guaranteed that happened. I ended up living in my car with my disabled son.”
When Van finally got her job back with back pay two years later, she returned to a stamping plant where women were still paralyzed by fear.
“They don’t want to go without. They don’t have a problem with being groped on. They’re there to get a paycheck,” Van said.
“I’mthe big mouth person on the job. I’m the outcast. I continue to send emails. If I see something, I’m telling.”
Exum said she was thrilled to land a job at the stamping plant after a four- year tour of duty in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
“I was shocked when a man put his hand on my bottom and outraged that he did it again and again,” Exum said.
She complained, but “I learned
“THEY … SUGGESTED IF IWANTED TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FOR MY FAMILY, I HAD TO ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTS OR FAVORS.’’ MIYOSHI MORRIS, on harassment she says she received from United AutoWorkers and Ford management
that advancement opportunities for ... a woman who complained were stunted. ... I want a workplace where I don’t have to work in fear that I’m gonna be touched on the behind or ostracized because I complained about it,” she said.
“I also don’t want to see preferential treatment given to female co- workers who are complicit with offensive sexual behavior by male harassers.”
Morris says she endured sexual harassment for many of her 18 years at the plant.
Officials from both the United Auto Workers and Ford management, she said, “sexually propositioned me under the threat that I would otherwise lose my career,” Morris said.
“They … suggested if I wanted to continue to provide for my family, I had to engage in sexual acts or favors. I was told by a UAW leader that I needed to watch certain other female employees who were also subjected to his advances and see the good jobs she and others were provided with when they got with the program.”
Morris said the UAW “misadvised and turned its back” on her, forcing her to lose a career she sacrificed “so much of my life” to secure.
The union’s plant chairman, she added, “told me if I wanted his help, I have to get down on my knees.”
Ford CEO Jim Hackett did not attend Tuesday’s hearing. But in a letter to Finance Chairman Edward Burke ( 14th), Ford spokesman Tony Reinhart acknowledged the automaker has grappled “with a number of allegations of sexual harassment” at Ford’s Chicago plants.
“Ford is committed to a safe, harassment- free workplace for all employees,” Reinhart wrote. “... Ford does not want harassers at its facilities and it will take immediate steps to address conduct that violates these policies.”
The UAWalso reiterated its policy of “zero tolerance when it comes to sexual harassment.”
Keith Hunt, an attorney representing scores of female victims, argued that Ford’s words run contrary to its inaction. Hunt also noted that Ford supplies all vehicles purchased by the Chicago Police Department.
“If Ford knew that it might not get any more contracts from the city of Chicago … you think maybe they might do a little better job in addressing sexual harassment or in responding to complaints of discrimination?” Hunt wondered.