Women resist sexual harrassment on the job

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(continued from page 1: “All out for the Jan. 20-21”)

It was also shocking to union members when actions of top levels of union leaders were exposed. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) were accused by Mia Kirshner of “inadequate protection against sexual harassment and abuse in the film industry.”

When it was revealed that SEIU Executive Vice Presi­ dent Scott Courtney was put on leave and then resigned for abusing his power over women staff members who were his subordinates, a number of SEIU staff said, “Fi­ nally! What took so long?” Courtney was a top-level strategist for the Fight For 15 campaign. Soon after­ ward, two other top staff in Chicago resigned. When the phrase, “this was an open secret” came out, it was clear to SEIU staff and union members that having an ethics policy (SEIU has a comprehensive one) means nothing. Members now need to empower staff, as staff have em­ powered them to take on abusive worksite managers.

There is an even deeper meaning here for all unions. At least half of all SEIU members are women. There are many women on staff and in leadership positions. In the last few years there has been an affirmative action plan in place to increase the number of people of color in leadership positions at all levels of the union. But as in so many unions, white men still dominate in the top levels. They are the chief strategists. Just as on corporate boards, that is where the power lies, and when women on staff speak up about abuse, those at the top circle the wagons and “protect” the organization.

This, of course, is not unique to SEIU. In most unions those men are the same ones who do not really believe in an organizing model with rank-and-file control and decision making. Business unionism not only makes for weaker unions; it has left harassed and assaulted staff members as victims.

When the accusations continued to spread and started hitting members of Congress, noted feminists started warning that there would be a backlash against women speaking out. It is now clear that the movement is get­ ting stronger regardless of apologists (Democrats and Republicans) for the abusers. “Listen To Women” will be a major focus of the marches this year.

A year of attacks on social programs The first attack from the White House came on the first day of Trump’s presidency as four million women were in the streets. He made a statement that his first execu­ tive action would be to eliminate funding for programs that fight global maternity mortality.

Trump reinstated the federal “Global Gag Rule” from the Reagan era. This is the international version of the Hyde Amendment, the bipartisan law that bars federal funds from being used for abortion services. This pro­ hibits international NGOs from receiving funds if they even speak to patients or provide pamphlets that men­ tion abortion. The rule is in effect even in countries where abortions are legal. Many small NGOs as well as international aid groups depend on that money to fund their operations. This measure is detrimental to wom­ en’s health services worldwide.

In March Trump issued an executive order to revoke the 2014 Fair Pay and Workplaces Act, which ensured that federal contracts were awarded only to companies with no history of unsafe working conditions, sexual ha­ rassment, or discrimination complaints.

In May Trump’s first budget threatened to slash gov­ ernment programs largely used by poor women and children. The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) pro­ gram was cut by $200 million. This program ensures health and nutrition for mothers, newborns, and young children. The program remains in place but is greatly hampered by the cuts. President Trump issued an ad­ ministrative rule that eliminates the requirement that all insurance company plans cover birth control.

There have been persistent attacks on Planned Parent­ hood, starting with a move to eliminate Title X funding. This is a federal subsidy to organizations that offer ser­ vices related to contraception, pregnancy care, fertility, and cancer screenings for persons with low income. Pre­ viously, there was a rule that barred states from with­ holding funds from organizations just because they offer abortion services. In April a bill was passed that put an end to this provision, basically giving states the freedom to defund Planned Parenthood.

States continue women’s rights restrictions Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed two bills that he calls “Pro-Life Insurance Reform.” This legislation pro­ hibits insurance providers from “forcing” any policy holder to purchase general health insurance that pays for elective abortions. If a woman wants insurance to cover abortions, she must now purchase a separate policy. The bill does not provide exceptions for rape or incest. At the signing, Gov. Abbott announced, “This en­ sures that no Texan is ever required to pay for a proce­ dure that ends the life of an ‘unborn’ child.”

The second bill expands reporting requirements for complications resulting from abortions. Within three days of treatment, doctors must report the patient’s The movement of working women and the fightback against sexual harassment, abuse, and rape on the job is growing. The movement is challenging past practices of human resource departments and management ev­ erywhere that are guilty of sweeping sexual harassment complaints under the rug.

For generations, women have been silenced on the job for reporting sexual abuse. A 2003 study by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) showed that 75% of women who report sexual abuse are retali­ ated against.

These statistics are nothing new for women in the workplace. The daily reality for millions broke into the open as numerous women in Hollywood came forward to expose decades of sexual harassment by executive producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein went as far as hiring former Israeli Mossad agents to silence accusers.

In November, prior to the “Take Back the Workplace”

march in Los Angeles, Alianza Nacional de Campesi­ nas, an organization comprised of 700,000 current and former farmworker women, wrote an open letter ex­ pressing their solidarity with Hollywood actresses fight­ ing back against sexual abuse in the movie industry. The farmworkers wrote, “Even though we work in very different environments, we share a common experi­ ence of being preyed upon by individuals who have (Above) Cake celebrates new Chicago ordinance to stop sexual harassment of hotel workers. Unite Here Local 1 worked for passage of the law.

birth year, county, race, and marital status.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMasters issued an execu­ tive order to direct state agencies to block women from getting preventive care at Planned Parenthood clinics.

In Pennsylvania, on Dec. 18, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed an anti-abortion bill that had passed the state legislature. It passed the House earlier in the month by 120-70 and passed the state Senate last February, 32-18. Republi­ cans can still try to override the veto, but appear to lack the two-thirds majority to do so.

Pennsylvania’s Senate Bill 3 would have banned abor­ tions after 19 weeks of pregnancy, four weeks earlier than the current law. It also would have restricted doc­ tors from “dismembering the unborn child” through the dilation and evacuation method—the most common abortion procedure in the second trimester. Federal judges have already issued injunctions against this re­ striction in states such as Texas, Alabama, Kansas, Ar­ kansas, and Oklahoma.

According to Planned Parenthood, the Pennsylvania bill would have contained the most vigorous time re­ strictions in the country. It was seen as a bellwether for passing similar bills in other states and was opposed by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Pennsylvania section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Among their concerns is that women of­ ten receive a critical ultrasound around the 20th week of pregnancy that can detect abnormalities that, in many cases, can be life threatening to the fetus. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that delivery before 23 weeks of gestation typically re­ sults in death to the fetus. 2018: women to march in local areas This year, the marches will be decentralized. Women will turn out in U.S. cities and towns on Jan. 20 and 21, re­ flecting their increased anger and activism over the past year. Some women still believe that an electoral strategy is the way towards change, but transformative change has always come about through the pressure of social movements independent of elections. Women have seen their issues immobilized and their time wasted by politi­ cians and then used as fund-raising ploys.

The women’s marches this year will be a time to or­ ganize and to make our demands visible and clear. The economic demands of the women on strike in December at the Christian Care Home in Ferguson, Mo., are a sig­ nificant example. After striking for 25 days in 20-degree the power to hire, fire, blacklist, and otherwise threaten our economic, physical, and emotional security.”

As we begin the new year, 300 Hollywood actresses launched the “Times Up” initiative to fight sexual ha­ rassment on the stage and screen while also extending solidarity to working-class women. Their initiative in­ cludes, “A legal defense fund, backed by $13 million in donations, to help less privileged women—like janitors, nurses and workers at farms, factories, restaurants and hotels—protect themselves from sexual misconduct and the fallout from reporting it.”

Time magazine included union hotel housekeepers, members of Unite Here, fighting sexual harassment on the cover of the “Silence Breakers” 2017 person of the year issue. Every day, women hotel workers, many of who are immigrant, Black or Latino, punch in and face unsafe working conditions.

In Chicago, Unite Here hotel workers were instru­ mental in passing the “Hands Off Pants On” ordinance, which is aimed at protecting hotel workers from harass­ ment. A survey conducted by Unite Here Local 1 in Chi­ cago of hospitality workers shows “49% of housekeep­ ers surveyed have had guest(s) expose themselves, flash them, or answer the door naked. 65% of casino cocktail servers surveyed have had a guest grope, pinch or grab them or try to touch them in an unwelcome way.”

From hotel housekeepers to Hollywood movie stars, women are taking the lead in the fight against sexual harassment. It is becoming more clear each day how the capitalist system uses sexual violence to exploit and op­ press women. We can increase the opposition to sexual harassment by bringing our coworkers to the Women’s Marches on Jan. 20-21 as well as organizing workplace, community, and campus actions around the country on March 8 for International Women’s Day.

Last year, dozens of schools faced closures due to teachers’ calling in sick on International Women’s Day. Is your union ready to do the same? If you’re not ready for action, begin by building a base that is ready to mo­ bilize. Union members can demand time during month­ ly meetings to discuss how to build a fightback in their shops. College students can organize forums that feature students alongside hotel workers.

Let’s make 2018 a year of solidarity and fightback for the rights of women on the job, on the campus, and in the home. n weather, they received “illegal” replacement notices from the board of Christian Care Homes right before Christmas.

The demands for justice by the Indigenous women who will be marching together in the Women’s March in Phoenix, Ariz., are particularly notable. They are ask­ ing women to wear red to raise awareness of the miss­ ing and murdered indigenous women. Some 84 percent of Native American women experience violence in their lifetime. The marchers are also connecting their vio­ lence “to the struggle of the continued assaults and des­ ecration of Mother Earth.”

Sadly, what most women demonstrators will hear from the rally platforms is a call for them to go all out to elect Democrats in the mid-term elections or run for office themselves in this same big business party. The move­ ment that we clearly need, however, must be fiercely independent of both of the political parties that are bought and paid for by the bosses. A movement must be built that can stand on its own and demand all that we need from whomever sits in the legislature and in the White House.

One important effort in that direction is the organizing that has begun for the International Women’s Day ac­ tion in New York City. The organizers, in solidarity with global actions in 2018, call themselves the International Women’s Strike NYC, and describe themselves as a coali­ tion of grassroots groups and labor organizations. They state their goal as bringing together as many people as possible under a militant feminist banner.

What does militant feminism mean to them? They say: “We would like next March 8th to be a day of action and visibility by and for working class women: women of color, immigrant women, Muslim women, queer and trans women, sex workers, domestic and care workers, and mothers.

“We want to continue recovering the radical history of the International Women’s Day by striking, marching and protesting together to demand free health care for all, including free abortion, contraception, and repro­ ductive care; to oppose the Trump administration’s xe­ nophobic and Islamophobic policies; to protest tax cuts for the rich; to demand social provisioning, environmen­ tal justice and a liveable minimum wage. We hope that next March 8th will contribute to build a feminism for the 99%, in solidarity with working women, their families, and their allies throughout the world.” Women around the country should follow their example. n SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 2018 5