Full Text of SR1471 100th General Assembly
SR1471 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, For the last quarter-century, the Ford Motor | 3 | | Company has garnered a reputation for mishandling complaints of | 4 | | sexual and racial harassment at their production plants across | 5 | | the nation, giving rise to a string of lawsuits in the 1990s, | 6 | | an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.) | 7 | | investigation, and a $22 million settlement to Ford employees | 8 | | who experienced harassment; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, The allegations made by female employees have | 10 | | included crude comments about women's bodies, graphic images of | 11 | | male genitalia, groping, males simulating sexual acts or | 12 | | masturbating in front of the women, and supervisors who offered | 13 | | favorable treatment to women who would have sex with them; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The culture at the Ford plants enabled this | 15 | | conduct, thereby causing many of the women who reported | 16 | | harassment to be mocked, dismissed, threatened, or ostracized; | 17 | | and | 18 | | WHEREAS, While Ford touted its purported commitment to | 19 | | cracking down on this hostile work environment, it | 20 | | simultaneously delayed firing those accused of harassment, did | 21 | | not provide adequate sexual harassment training, and failed to | 22 | | stamp out retaliation against those women who reported |
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| 1 | | misconduct, leaving workers to conclude that offenders would go | 2 | | unpunished; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Ford has done little to address the longstanding | 4 | | culture of sexual harassment at its plants, resulting in | 5 | | another E.E.O.C. investigation, a recent $10 million | 6 | | settlement of sexual harassment claims, and continuing | 7 | | litigation between Ford and employees who suffer from this | 8 | | pervasive sexual and racial harassment; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant and the Chicago | 10 | | Stamping Plant, which together employ over 5,700 people, of | 11 | | which just under a third are women, have been the source of | 12 | | half of all sexual harassment and gender discrimination | 13 | | complaints lodged against Ford with the E.E.O.C.; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Many of the known and unknown women who became | 15 | | victims of sexual harassment throughout their employment with | 16 | | Ford are Illinois workers who have suffered serious | 17 | | psychological and physical trauma, economic loss, and | 18 | | retaliation including loss of their jobs as a result of Ford's | 19 | | gross mishandling and failure to eradicate this impermissible | 20 | | behavior in their Chicago plants; therefore, be it
| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 22 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Equal |
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| 1 | | Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of | 2 | | Human Rights, and the Illinois Department of Labor to | 3 | | investigate the culture of harassment at Ford's Illinois plants | 4 | | and provide increased support for the brave women who have come | 5 | | forward to make their voices heard, and further call upon the | 6 | | Governor of Illinois to review all state contracts with Ford | 7 | | Motor Company for compliance with the Illinois Human Rights | 8 | | Act, the Illinois Procurement Code, and other laws and | 9 | | regulations governing state contractors; and be it further
| 10 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 11 | | delivered to Governor Bruce Rauner, the Acting Chair and the | 12 | | Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, | 13 | | the Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the | 14 | | Director of the Illinois Department of Labor, and the Board of | 15 | | Directors at Ford Motor Company.
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