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Indigenous & Latina Women & Children's Human
Rights News from the Americas |
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Latin America |
| Women &
Children at Risk |
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Title: EEOC Reveals Rise in Cases Involving Blue Collar Women |
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| [Immigrant women Trgeted] |
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| Author:
Joseph A. Slobodzian |
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Publisher: Legal Times |
| Publish
Date: 2000-07-14 |
| URL:
http://bankrupt.com/CAR_Public/000816.MBX |
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* EEOC Reveals
Rise in Cases Involving Blue-Collar Women
--------------------------------------------------------
Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court clarified employer liability in
sexual harassment cases, experts say the problem remains persistent even
while the nature of complaints shifts.
An examination of the caseload at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission reveals that companies are facing a changing and growing
roster of complaints. The EEOC, under its first Latina chair, Ida
Castro, cites an " alarming" rise in cases involving the most vulnerable
women in the workplace: those filling blue-collar and factory jobs,
especially immigrants. EEOC spokesman David Grinberg says that such
cases of sexual harassment are also significant because low-wage jobs
are showing one of the largest increases as a percentage of the national
work force.
Consider: On June 1, the EEOC announced a $ 1 million settlement of a
class action against Grace Culinary Systems Inc. and Townsends Culinary
Inc. involving allegations of sexual harassment against 22 Hispanic
women who worked at a food processing plant in Laurel, Md. The workers,
all recent immigrants from Central America who speak little English,
claimed they were subjected to sexual groping and requests for sex from
male managers and co-workers over a period of several years.
Women who rejected the sexual advances were given menial or more
difficult assignments; two pregnant women who refused were demoted and
then fired; another woman was locked in a walk-in freezer by her
supervisor after she rejected his advances.
Grace Culinary, a subsidiary of W.R. Grace & Co., agreed to pay $
850,000 to the victims. Townsends Culinary, which bought the Laurel
plant from Grace in 1996 and closed it in April, will pay $ 150,000.
A May 26 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
unanimously affirmed an award of damages totaling $ 407,364 to Sharon
Pollard, the control room operator of a DuPont hydrogen peroxide plant
in Tennessee, and $ 252,997 to her attorneys.
U.S. District Judge Jon Phipps McCalla, of the Western District of
Tennessee, found that Pollard was subjected to continuing sexual
harassment by male co-workers since 1987. DuPont supervisors knew of the
harassment, the judge determined, but did not take adequate steps to
stop it, even after Pollard was forced to take medical leave to seek
psychological assistance.
McCalla called it a "case of wretched indifference to an employee who
was slowly drowning in an environment that was completely unacceptable,
while her employer sat by and watched."
Last year, there was a $ 1.9 million settlement between the EEOC and
Tanimura & Antle of Salinas, Calif., one of the largest U.S. lettuce
growers and distributors. The agency brought the case on behalf of a
class of Latino agricultural workers who were required to give sexual
favors for continued employment and job benefits at Tanimura & Antle
plants in Salinas and in Yuma, Ariz.
Grinberg says that agency officials are so concerned about the trend
that, since last year, they have been conducting outreach programs in
Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and in other areas with large immigrant
populations. "Many immigrant workers don't know they have these rights
until we make them aware of them," Grinberg says.
New Landscape
The legal landscape for surveying sexual harassment cases was changed in
June 1998, when the Supreme Court ruled simultaneously in two cases:
Burlington Industries Inc. v. Ellerth and Faragher v. City of Boca
Raton.
The rulings cleared up more than 10 years of contradictory rulings from
the federal circuit courts about when a company can be found liable for
sexual harassment committed against an employee by a supervisor. The
high court ruled that a company can be held liable for an employee's
sexual harassment by a supervisor-even when a corporate sexual
harassment policy is in place-if the victimized worker suffered a
"tangible employment action" such as firing or demotion.
If the employee does not experience any tangible adverse action from
being sexually harassed, the Supreme Court says, the company can escape
liability with a two-pronged affirmative defense: the existence of an
effective sexual harassment policy as well as both a prompt action by
the company to correct the problem and a failure by the complaining
employee to use the remedial process provided by the company.
Statistically, it may be too soon to tell whether the two rulings and
the burst of corporate training they prompted have made a difference.
According to EEOC data, sexual harassment claims made up 5.7 percent of
complaints received in 1997 and 6.2 percent received in 1999. At the
same time, EEOC data show that the cost of sexual harassment cases is
rising: Employers paid out $ 12.7 million in EEOC settlements in 1992
and $ 50.3 million in 1999.
Specialists in sexual discrimination and harassment litigation say they
are not surprised by the persistence of the problem, despite all the
money spent by companies trying to shield themselves against such
claims. "I have to believe it has made a dent in the situation," says
Nancy O'Mara Ezold, a Philadelphia-area litigator and outgoing chair of
the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia. "Has it made the kind of
difference the public thinks it has made? My response would be no."
Garry Mathiason, a senior partner at San Francisco's Littler Mendelson,
the country's largest employment and labor law firm, says he believes
it's logical that sex harassment litigation appears to be moving into
the ranks of blue-collar and minimum-wage employees.
The reason, Mathiason says, is that the Supreme Court's 1998 decisions,
in putting a new emphasis on the effectiveness of company policies and
corrective actions, have made such blue-collar cases more likely to be
financially viable for plaintiffs attorneys. "When you take one of these
cases alone, you're looking at very small damages because there is a
low-paying job" involved, Mathiason explains. "Now, when you focus
instead on what the company did in response, you have something an
attorney can use to enrage the jury and argue for punitive damages." As
a result, Mathiason adds, there has been an increase not only in
low-wage
sex harassment cases, but also in cases of harassment based on race,
gender, ethnic origin, and other reasons.
Companies are still learning how to deal with workplace harassment and
discrimination cases, Mathiason says. The first phase, the rush to adopt
corporate harassment policies and procedures, occurred in the first two
years after the Supreme Court rulings, he says. Mathiason says that most
companies are now in the second phase: training managers to investigate
and document harassment complaints properly. Three years ago, Mathiason
notes, Littler's investigation-training seminar for human resources
professionals attracted five people. Last year, he says, there were 25,
and this year, there were 35 and a waiting list of about 25 more.
****
Joseph A. Slobodzian reports on the federal courts for The Philadelphia
Inquirer and writes regularly about legal issues. This article was
distributed by the American Lawyer Media News Service. (By Joseph A.
Slobodzian, Legal Times, August 14, 2000)
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Últimas Noticias
Latest
News
May 2008 News
Mexico
Soldados nos agreden:
mujeres Me’phaa de La Montaña, Guerrero
Soldiers Subject Indigenous Women & Communities
to Terror in Guerrero State
Fortina Cruz Ortega, of
the Me`phaa ethnic group (members of the larger
indigenous Tlapaneca tribe of the region called
La Montaña in Guerrero state), joined with four
other indigenous women... to denounce human
rights abuses occurring in La Montaña... The
group... gave testimony before the Indigenous
Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies...
Cruz Ortega: "We,
the women of the Me`phaa, live in everyday fear
of leaving our homes, because military soldiers
harass us... Many of our women have been raped
by these soldiers, but they remain silent
because if their husbands found out, they would
get angry and leave them."
Cruz Ortega, the
wife of Orlando Manzanares Lorenzo, also
denounced the fact that her husband, as well as
the husbands of the other four women present,
had been falsely accused in the homicide of
Alejandro Feliciano García, a police and
military informant. Those detained include:
Manuel Cruz Victoriano... who denounced having
been forcibly sterilized by workers of the
Secretary of Health; ... and Natalio Ortega Cruz
and Romualdo Santiago Enedina, both... cousins
of a woman named Inés, who... was raped by
soldiers in 2002...
The wives of these
prisoners declared that the only 'crime' their
husbands are guilty of is that of having
organized and protected their communities...
After the women
concluded their statements at the press
conference, Deputy Marcos Matías Alonso
announced that the following day, the issue of
the
Me`phaa leadership's unjust
arrest would be presented to the Senate of the
Republic by Senator Cuauhte-moc Sandoval, a member of the
Permanent Commission...
- Sandra Torres
Pastrana
CIMAC Noticias
Mexico City
May 8, 2008
See also:
Lorenzo Fernández Ortega,
a leading member of the Me Phaa Indigenous
People’s Organization (Organización del Pueblo
Indígena Me Phaa - OPIM) and brother of Inés
Fernández Ortega, was kidnapped on 9 February
and found dead the following day, in Ayutla de
los Libres, Guerrero State.
Other members of OPIM have also
suffered threats and intimidation since the day
of the kidnapping. Amnesty International is
gravely concerned for their safety.
- Amnesty International
Feb. 22, 2008
Mexico's Indians Target of
Sterilization 'Sweep'
Ayutla de los Libres - Jose
Toribio, a Mixtec Indian from the Sierra Madre
mountains... attributes the pain [in his leg] to
a vasec-tomy he had two years ago after visits
to his remote village by No. 3 Brigade, a state
medical team...
Toribio now says he had the
operation because of threats made to him by No.
3 Brigade.
His claims are supported by the
official Guerrero Human Rights Commission...
- Linda Diebel
Toronto Star (Canada)
March 26, 2000
LibertadLatina
The crisis of forced
sterilization facing indigenous and Latin
communities in the Americas
Mexico
A view from the
frontlines of grass-roots action to rescue
children in sexual slavery in Mexico
About the Breaking Chains
Mission, based in Tijuana, Mexico
Steven Cass: "Our ministry actually works street
level to identify and then rescue victims of
child prostitution and trafficking. We have
over 150 rescues so far from 7-22 years old and
are in the midst of an extended trip in Southern
Mexico where we have identified 100's in this
situation. Over the next month we pray to bring
them to freedom."
[The front page of the
above web site contains a moving video of
testimonies from teen girls rescued from the
street by the Breaking Chains Mission.]
Breaking Chains Mission
Report
For 5-11-2008
Report Excerpt:
Mexico's Southern Pacific Coastal Tourist
Areas
...In terms of what’s happening here on this
mission…there is much. I am seeing numerous
children involved in prostitution with tourists,
many as young as 5-7 years old. As I walk the
areas where this is prevalent it is clear that
the locals are very aware of what’s happening
between their children and the tourists who
flock here...
North Americans and those from other countries
as well are known here for one thing…looking for
drugs and underage boys and girls...
Last night as I walked through one of the main
party zones I was approached by a hustler who in
perfect English asked me if I wanted “underage
girls.” I asked him “what about the laws?” His
reply made me want to vomit…he said with a grin
that had satan written all over it: “we have a
great government here.”
I do believe the local authorities are trying to
stop it but like the war on drugs they have
turned a cheek for so long that the problem is
almost beyond hope...
- Steven Cass
Breaking Chains Mission
May 11, 2008
LibertadLatina
note:
Dear Steven Cass,
Thanks for your letter.
Keep up the great work. We know that it is tough
and lonely on the frontlines!
Many of the most effective acts against impunity
are those taken by individuals and small groups
of volunteers who have the fortitude to walk
into the jaws of evil and dare to rescue victims
from impunity. We salute your efforts to
rescue our children and youth in peril.
End
impunity now!
-
Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
May 14, 2008
Mexico
Exigen frenar explotación
laboral de menores indígenas
Congress Demands an End to the Labor
Exploitation of Indigenous Children
Approximately three
million mostly indigenous children and
adolescents face labor exploitation in Mexico
due the economic problems facing 80% of the
population, and due to the customs of families
who use the labor of their children to survive.
According to a
report by Mexico's Chamber of Deputies, the
majority of these children abandon school or are
about to do so, as their families migrate to
cities and agricultural export farm regions.
Deputy César Flores
Maldonado, coordinator for the Revolutionary
Democratic Party (PRD) stated: "The child labor
force can be seen in workshops, farm fields,
ware-houses, markets, long-haul trucking and
high-risk activities such as sexual
exploitation. It is a well-established reality
in our nation. Little-or-nothing is done to
eradicate it."
Some 15.7% of
underage Mexicans engage in some type of work.
An estimated 54.7% of child laborers are
domestic workers [many of whom are sexually
exploited].
About 5,000 children
work as 'carriers' in Mexico City's warehouse
industry. The government does nothing to control
this exploitation, which causes accidents and
deformities for these working children.
Nine in ten indigenous
child laborers receive no pay for their work.
The states with the
highest rates of child labor are Chiapas,
Campeche, Puebla and Veracruz, where 22% of
minors work.
In Mexico City,
15,000 minors live and work on the city's
streets,
- La Cronica
Mexico
May 2, 2008
LibertadLatina
note:
The
feudal Spanish system of slave labor that was
imposed on indigenous peoples in Mexico and
across Latin America during the European
colonial period (1400's-1800's) has continued to
operate with impunity in Mexico and many other
Latin American countries unchanged.
For
500 years, indigenous women and children have
remained the primary target of opportunity for
sexual predators, and sex traffickers,
across the Americas.
(Yes, our peoples were sex-trafficked even 500
years ago.)
End
impunity now!
-
Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina
May 14, 2008
See also:
An undercover
reporter in
Spain
poses as
a buyer
[pimp], and is
Offered six
virgin
Indigenous
'girls
[all of them
age 13] by
a trafficker.
The
'sale' price
in Europe
for young Mayan
girls
kidnapped
from
Chiapas,
Mexico:
$25,000
each.
(In Spanish)
-
Antonio Salas and
Joan Manuel Baliellas
Crónica
Spain
Feb. 29, 2004
Investigará
gobierno de
Chiapas
venta de
indígenas en
Europa
Chiapas
State
Investigates
Sale of
Young Mayan
Girls in
Europe.
(In Spanish)
- CIMAC Noticias
News for Women
Mexico City
March 15, 2004
LibertadLatina
About the Crisis of Sexual Exploitation
Affecting Women and Children in Mexico
Idaho, USA
The use of "illegal
immigrant" in Idaho rapist story creates false
connection
An appalling story
out of St. Anthony, Idaho speeded across the
Internet this morning. According to Idaho Falls
CBS affiliate, KIDK, a 10-year-old girl gave
birth to a 6 lb. baby girl as a result of being
raped.
The news story on
the KIDK site read in part: "…That person is
this man, 37-year old Guadalupe
Gutierrez-Juarez. Juarez is actually an illegal
immigrant, and is now behind bars in the Fremont
County Jail on other rape charges...
If convicted the
illegal immigrant could face life in prison, a
$50,000 fine ,or both. Whether he ever serves
anytime behind bars will be up to the judge who
if he places him on probation, could deport
him."
From the way this
story reads, "If convicted the [undocumented]
immigrant could face life in prison,"
dehumanizes not just the intended target, the
rapist, but ALL undocumented immigrants. Also,
it makes it sound that this was a
stranger-on-stranger crime.
It wasn't.
The rapist was
married to the girl's mother. Latina Lista has
yet to verify if the rapist was the child's
father.
At any rate, it
should go without saying that not all
undocumented immigrants are rapists but this
article definitely plants the connection between
the two terms...
By repeatedly
referring to this rapist as the "illegal
immigrant," this media story does a disservice
to the local community and popular perception of
all undocumented immigrant men who are Latino...
-
Marisa Treviño
Politics in Color
May 9, 2008
LibertadLatina
note:
We
at
LibertadLatina
agree with Marisa Treviño's editorial
view-point that repeatedly calling an accused
rapist "the illegal alien" instead of using his
actual name is indeed a thinly-veiled effort to
identify all undocumented immigrant men with the
crime of rape (be that a conscious or an
unconscious goal of a given reporter).
However, the fact that a rape suspect is
undocumented is in-fact part of the story.
One
researcher (see below) estimates that 93 sex
offenders and 12 serial sexual offenders come
across the U.S. - Mexican border each day.
While the impact of that fact in the United
States is of concern, of equal concern is the
fact that women and children in Mexico face rape
and abuse with impunity in a nation where laws
against sexual predation are almost never
enforced.
The
crisis of severe sexual exploitation that women
and children face in Latin America has migrated
to the United States and other destination
nations for migrants.
The
responsibility to defend the victims remains the
same in any part of the geography of the
Americas.
Therefore, the traditional code of silence in
the Latino community, that has kept quiet the
victims of sexual terror for centuries [and
especially that terror's indigenous victims]...
must be ended.
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"Historically the voices of women,
especially women of color have been
silenced. As we begin to uncover our
past, the oppression we experienced is
being detailed, however embar-rassing it
may be.
To
continue the silence would be a
detrimental step backwards."
-
Puerto Rican women's health rights
advocate Venus Ginés |
While the statistics gathered by research-ers
such as
Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin
of Atlanta's Violent Crimes
Institute (see below) are disturbing, do
pro-Latina activists have an obligation to
silence these facts?
We
don't think so.
Human rights activists and those who report the
news are not advancing women's basic human
rights when they remain silent about the truth.
It may be convenient to protecting the Barrio
during a time of obvious hostility towards
immigrants, but that does not justify leaving
'Maria' abandoned to her fate at the hands
of rapists and sex traffickers.
Arguably, much of the hostility facing the
immigrant community in the U.S. would diminish
if the Latino community were seen as being more
visibly active in stopping the impunity of
rapists who today remain protected by the
Barrio's centuries-old code of silence. We
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