~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://www.washrag.org/ or http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/ along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subscribe to e-mail version of this newsletter by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNationaland and joining the group. Recent issues are posted here immediately when completed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 11, Number 4 November, 2003 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents Harassment Experience in El Paso, Texas Notices From Our Friends National News Local News News from Australia Sexual Harassment In Primetime Harassment of Activist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harassment Experience in El Paso, Texas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am a former employee of the City of El Paso. I worked at Sun Metro (Mass Transit Department). This is a condensed story of what happened to me while I worked at Sun Metro, and also of what happened after I resigned. I resigned because of the bad management practices at Sun Metro (and the rest of the City administration). I was a housewife for over 20 years and decided to get a job because my daughter was going away to college, and I wanted the health benefits for her. I worked at Sun Metro a total of two years and ten months. In that time, I called in sick only twice. One of those days was for my son’s surgery. I started out as a Clerk Typist II in the Sun Metro personnel department. I was then promoted to Personnel/Accounting Clerk in the payroll section. I was warned by many Sun Metro employees not to take that position. They told me about former employees who were mistreated and either resigned or transferred to another department. I was told about how the supervisor and a payroll clerk would bully other employees. Because I had had no problems with either of these two persons while I worked in personnel, I didn’t think that I would have the same problems the others did once I was promoted. My problems began when I filed a sexual harassment complaint against my co-worker (also a payroll clerk). The harasser was allowed to retaliate against me, and the more I complained, the worse things became for me. I realized then why city employees do not speak out about the bad management. My supervisor also retaliated by assigning me more work, and then two weeks later, she asked me to cut down on the overtime. The city had an obligation to investigate this complaint, but they did not. In a statement I wrote at the City Personnel department, I named three other women who were harassed by this person. Not one of these city employees was questioned. The harasser was the person who did my payroll, and he treated my payroll different from everyone else’s. The retaliation came from Sun Metro administration, the city Personnel department, and the Legal department. They all protected this harasser, and came after me because I dared to speak out about this. Just recently, I discovered that I’m not the first person to have filed a sexual harassment complaint against this person. I filed grievances with the City, applied for a transfer, and filed complaints with the EEOC. When I finally resigned after six months of being retaliated against, I applied for unemployment benefits and claimed the retaliation as my reason for resigning. (As I said before, I am not the first person to be forced out of the Sun Metro payroll department, but I will be the last). The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) found that I had quit for good cause, and they issued the unemployment benefits. The City appealed this. They said I had quit for personal reasons. We had a hearing, and Ms. Cuellar (Assistant City Attorney) told the hearing officer that the reason I was given extra work was because I had requested it. She said I had sent out an email stating that sometimes I had nothing to do. That is true. I did send out that email, but it was in response to an email sent by my supervisor asking us to cut down on the overtime. And it was sent out two weeks after the additional workload had been assigned to me. The email I sent was suggesting that we be allowed to leave early when we were done for the day. It was mandatory for us to work the weekend we closed payroll, and when I was interviewed for the position, I was told that we would be allowed to take comp. time for this. Ms. Cuellar also said that the reason I was given leave without pay for coming in late from lunch and others weren’t was because I came in more than six minutes late. She stated that there is a six-minute grace period. As a payroll clerk, I know that there is no six-minute grace period. I submitted several timecards along with my grievance showing how other employees were not docked for coming in late. Among these was a timecard for Mr. Scott’s secretary, showing she had come in seven minutes late in the morning, and 15 minutes late from lunch both on the same day. She was paid for all that time from her sick leave balance. Because of all these lies by the city attorney, I lost the appeal and have to return the unemployment benefits that were given to me while I was unemployed for two months. I am now making payments to the TWC to repay this. On April 19, 2002, the accountant at Sun Metro took all his employees to lunch in recognition of Administrative Assistants Day. We all took a two-hour lunch. Everyone was instructed to swipe out when we left. We were also told not to swipe back in. All three payroll clerks swiped in when we returned because we knew that this was improper. Yet, the harasser entered everyone else’s time exactly one hour from the time they had swiped out. He paid these employees (about 13) regular pay, as if they had actually worked that extra hour they took for lunch, when they should’ve been paid using either their personal time or leave without pay. The harasser fraudulently paid these employees for taking an extra long lunch, yet he refused to pay me the ten minutes I had come in late from lunch, even though everyone else at Sun Metro gets paid for doing so. I filed a grievance, and it was denied by two supervisors and the director. The only thing I requested as a remedy in my grievance was to have the 10 minutes paid, and to have somebody else do my payroll. That’s all. I have the documentation to prove everything I have claimed. The only thing I am grateful for is that these two employees will no longer force anyone else out. My former supervisor has transferred to the police department, and the harasser has been promoted to another position at Sun Metro. By the way, a month after I resigned, I went to meet a friend for lunch, and I was escorted out of the Union Depot. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was told that “certain persons” were uncomfortable because I was in the building. Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any questions, comments or doubts, please feel free to contact me. Elisa M. Pedroza 8048 Meraz Ave. El Paso, TX 79907 Home: (915) 590-3978 Cell: (915) 549-2852 Email: american_woman_(bleep)msn.com [We note that the perpetrator was promoted and the other was transferred: that hardly sends a warning to them or other sexual harassment perpetrators!] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Notices From Our Friends ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There has been a lot in the news about the woman in Florida, Terri, who had her feeding tube removed and then replaced by order of the Governor. Because her condition is thought by family members to have been the result of spousal abuse, we are including links for anyone who is interested in getting more information about this story. This information comes to us from Eleanor(bleep)raven1.net http://webpals.sdln.net/cgi-bin/pals-cgi?SET%20WEB%20SYSARG____/te%20%20Coma/SAGE%200/MAXDI%2018/di%200005 http://webpals.sdln.net/cgi-bin/pals-cgi?SET%20WEB%20SYSARG____/te%20%20Coma/SAGE%200/MAXDI%2018/di%200004 http://www.terrisfight.org From anne(bleep)willapabay.org we have information about applying for a Ford Foundation Grant. If you don’t get it, Anne thinks you should ask to be put on the mailing list of The Ford Foundation, 320 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017, not only women in this country, but around the world. http://www.fordfound.org CANADIAN SUBSIDY DIRECTORY YEAR 2003 EDITION is now available, for more information contact Canadian Subsidy Directory, 4865 Hwy. 138, St-Andrews west, Ontario, K0C 2A0 Canada. In South Dakota, a RECLAIM THE NIGHT!!!! Event to stop violence against women occurred on October 31 (bleep) 6pm at the State Library in Pierre, South Dakota. Reclaim the night was an opportunity to support women who have survived abuse. it is an annual event which recognizes and opposes the continuing violence against women. Attendees were encourages to bring their mother, daughter, sisters, grandmother, your girlfriend, your auntie.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ National News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gary Ridgeway, who was identified earlier as the Green River serial killer, has confessed to killing 48 women and dumping their bodies in clusters on the banks of the Green River in Oregon. He said that he killed as many women he thought were prostitutes as he could. He pled guilty in order to avoid the death sentence, and got a life sentence instead. According to an Argus Leader article of October 3, 2003, Arnold Swarzenegger admitted he had behaved badly when he harassed women on his film sets. The election gave a significant indication of how seriously the public takes the issue of sexual harassment. TV coverage showed Swarzenegger himself not feeling that he had sexually harassed anyone, although there were six women who made the accusations ranging back for thirty years. He said he thought he was making a laid-back workplace. Compare this to the way Bill Clinton was treated for having consensual affairs with several women both during his campaigns and when he was in office. The conservatives, of which Arnold is a member, could hardly find enough words to express their disgust over Bill’s behavior, but they apparently have a different policy regarding Arnold’s. As a final insult, his wife, turncoat Maria Shriver, in typical conservative manner, “stood by her man” and followed her ticket into the governor’s mansion. Balderdash. Harassers never change their behavior, they just get smarter at getting away with it, just like serial killers and child molesters. 60 Minutes II on October 29 covered the suicide of Daniel Scruggs, a student who was bullied every day because of his small stature. Teachers said he had a high IQ but a learning disability. They had sometimes intervened, sometimes they did not. The child’s mother, who was not a great housekeeper, was charged with having an unsafe environment was the only one charged in the death. On October 3, the Argus Leader had an article about three Philadelphia high school football players who were charged in a hazing event in which the victims, three 13 and 14 year old boys, were sodomized with foreign objects. The older players, aged 16 and 17. were suspended and the rest of the football season was suspended. PBS carried a study on the status of women in developing countries on the September 5th NOW with Bill Moyer. It discussed the effects of the work of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) on women. The consensus of opinion was that these organizations had done nothing to improve the status of women in third world countries. It seems that the programs they have implemented have, guess what, benefited huge multinational corporations instead. On October 25, the CBS program “To Catch a Stalker” on 48 Hours explored the subject of stalking. They estimated that 1 million women and 300,000 men are being stalked every year. They said that 100% of female news anchors are stalked, and that news anchors in general are common victims. NBC news on October 4 reported that of the 16 graduates of the AF Academy who were accused of sexual assault on female cadets, only 2 have been acquitted of the charges, the rest remain on duty. ABC News on September 22nd cited a civilian report that blamed the problem with sexual assaults at the AF Academy on a failure in leadership. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Local News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On October 3, 2003, Argus Leader and TV stories covered the attempted kidnapping of two Aberdeen girls, aged 7 and 8. They said a man chased them and caught one of them and hugged her. They escaped, and Mark Alan Jensen of Hartford was eventually identified as the kidnapper and charged. The VA Hospital in Sioux Falls reached a settlement with Forzio, former Director of the Sioux Falls VAMC, who was accused of harassing female employees there. Neither is discussing the terms of the settlement. KSFY carried a news story on October 25th on “This Week Dakota” about bullying, taunting and teasing. They said that 10,000 students in the US stay home from school every day because they are victims. The bullying may be because of race, appearance or for other reasons. The guests suggested that the child should be taught to confront the bully. They said that bullying effects the child’s self-esteem, school performance and may cause illness, may also effect home life. While some bullying was said to be mischievous, some was malicious and intense. It is OK as along as it is not severe. The victim should talk to parents and teachers about what is going on. Some ways parents can identify the problem is that the child may have torn or damaged possessions, or may have scratches or bruises. Sometimes the bully has been previously bullied. He may have self-esteem problems himself and he bullies others to raise his own self-esteem. This problem can involve others: classmates, teachers, parents and siblings. Schools are offering anger management groups, also counseling with involves journaling, music therapy, or writing a letter to the object of their frustration. KMEG in Sioux City also carried a story about bullying, and they said that parents should intervene if their child is a victim. If the child is a bully, they said to try to convince them not to bully. In both cases, the teacher should be contacted. Teachers who know the bullying is taking place after school can keep the bully after school, which is effective because children hate being kept after school. The “Character Counts” program is designed to discourage bullying. They said that all Sioux City schools have programs to stop bullying. Charles James Benecke was charged and convicted of sexually abusing female residents at the Good Samaritan Center in Sioux Falls, according to KSFY news of October 27 and the Argus Leader of October 28th. He was charged with three counts, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. We were relieved when the Good Samaritan Center had the perpetrator charged, as organizations like this often prefer to get rid of the offender in order to avoid bad publicity, and they are free to go on and get another similar job to offend again. On September 18, according to KSFY News, Dennis Gunise was sentenced for stalking an Augustana College student who was driving back to Sioux Falls on Interstate 29. He had tried to force her off the road to pull her over. She had a cell phone and called the police. He had an ax handle and duct tape in the car. He should have been registered as a sex offender but was not. He has several previous convictions. He got 140 days, but when he gets out, he can’t break any law for 5 years or he will serve 15 months. According to an October 3 article in the Argus Leader, a Sioux Falls man, Shane Anthoony Bright, was charged with assault and burglary after breaking into a woman’s apartment and trying to strangle her. She fought back and broke away from him. After he had taken two other phones away from her, she managed to call police with a cordless phone that was in the kitchen. Patrick McKinnie was charged with sexual contact with a minor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News from Australia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current work of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on the issue of sexual harassment Launch of “A Bad Business: Review of sexual harassment in employment complaints 2002” On Wednesday 12 November 2003, the federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner will be launching "A Bad Business: Review of sexual harassment in employment complaints 2002". The purpose of the paper is to investigate the nature of sexual harassment in employment that is being reported to the Commission by analysing complaints made to the Commission. The review involved the collection of quantitative and qualitative information on sexual harassment complaints through detailed examination of the complaint files for the 152 complaints of sexual harassment in employment finalised in 2002. The paper presents an analysis of the data according to a number of characteristics such as type of harassment, nature of employment and employer consequences. A press release and the paper will be available on the Commission’s website on 12 November (http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/index.html). Youth Challenge - Tackling sexual harassment in your school The Commission is conducting a series of one-day Youth Challenge programs in schools aimed at raising awareness of sexual harassment in 2003-2004. Further information is available at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/youthchallenge2/index.html Future Work The Commission is undertaking additional work on sexual harassment for release in 2004, including: • commissioning a telephone survey on the general incidence of sexual harassment in Australia; • updating the Commission’s publication, “Sexual Harassment: A Code of Practice”; and • preparing public education material. [Great news from “Down Under!”] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sexual Harassment In Primetime ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ October 8 Law and Order presented a story about a doctor charged with infecting a former girlfriend who has ended their relationship with SARS. His wife gets him off by providing his with an alibi for the time frame when he was supposed to have done it. The girl friend’s son — by the doctor — who had a severe health problem and contacted the disease from his mother, died. The Doctor is acquitted. October 21 Law and Order, Criminal Intent addressed the use of pathogens to infect women who displeased a researcher and a veterinatian. October 12 Lion’s Den with Rob Low was entirely on the sexual harassment issue. The main story line was one woman claiming sexual harassment by another woman, but one of the female Junior Partners in the firm took courage from the situation and confronted one of the Senior Partners with evidence that he had been sexually harassing her for some time, and told him to quit or she would file a complaint against him. This was extremely well done and believable. A young male staff member who has a fixation with one of the female partners is also making overtures towards her that are neither entirely welcome nor entirely unwelcome. We wanted to note that after this episode aired, there were only a couple more episodes of THE LION'S DEN and then the series was apparently cancelled. Did their advertising base withdraw after they addressed the sexual harassment issue? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harassment of Activist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is to report that Sueann Campbell of the Austin, Texas area had her internet access cut off Saturday, November 1st, 2003. Sueann has been active in trying to expose current day stalking and harassment which operate more like a high-technology contract revenge service for the rich and powerful. Sueann calls current day stalking and harassment a "covert war" on citizens and their quality of life, and freedom itself. Sueann's web site, which was not affected by this surprise service termination is at: http://www.StopCovertWar.com Sueann's account was NOT in arrears. She has never sent or voluntarily received pornography. StopCovertWar.com does NOT advocate violence, and plainly states that she is not against government, but only against corruption in government. Sueann is one of the most honest and compassionate human beings I know. Sueann is a true patriot. When Sueann called her Internet service provider, texas.net, on Monday November 3, she was refused a reason for her termination. All they would tell her is: We (texas.net) are unable to provide your "special needs" - Do not telephone us again. If you do, we will bring harassment charges against you. Sounds like the letter and spirit of the USA PATRIOT and Homeland Security acts, doesn't it? Sueann has a new email account. For a complete transcript of the incident, see: http://www.StopCovertWar.com/denial.html Eleanor(bleep)raven1.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WE’RE ON THE WEB http://www.washrag.org/ and at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $10.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. Outside the US, send $20.00 to join. For a sample issue, send a #10 sized SASE. For a Publisher98 print module, e-mail washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com E-mail comments can be sent to washragezine(bleep)yahoo.com. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational to sign up for a free e-mail subscription to the W.A.S.H. Rag If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, unsubscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WomenAgainstSexualHarassmentNational ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2003 Tesseract Publications, P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 (605) 987-5070.