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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, For the last quarter-century, the Ford Motor
3Company has garnered a reputation for mishandling complaints of
4sexual and racial harassment at their production plants across
5the nation, giving rise to a string of lawsuits in the 1990s,
6an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.)
7investigation, and a $22 million settlement to Ford employees
8who experienced harassment; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The allegations made by female employees have
10included crude comments about women's bodies, graphic images of
11male genitalia, groping, males simulating sexual acts or
12masturbating in front of the women, and supervisors who offered
13favorable treatment to women who would have sex with them; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The culture at the Ford plants enabled this
15conduct, thereby causing many of the women who reported
16harassment to be mocked, dismissed, threatened, or ostracized;
17and
 
18    WHEREAS, While Ford touted its purported commitment to
19cracking down on this hostile work environment, it
20simultaneously delayed firing those accused of harassment, did
21not provide adequate sexual harassment training, and failed to
22stamp out retaliation against those women who reported

 

 

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1misconduct, leaving workers to conclude that offenders would go
2unpunished; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Ford has done little to address the longstanding
4culture of sexual harassment at its plants, resulting in
5another E.E.O.C. investigation, a recent $10 million
6settlement of sexual harassment claims, and continuing
7litigation between Ford and employees who suffer from this
8pervasive sexual and racial harassment; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant and the Chicago
10Stamping Plant, which together employ over 5,700 people, of
11which just under a third are women, have been the source of
12half of all sexual harassment and gender discrimination
13complaints lodged against Ford with the E.E.O.C.; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Many of the known and unknown women who became
15victims of sexual harassment throughout their employment with
16Ford are Illinois workers who have suffered serious
17psychological and physical trauma, economic loss, and
18retaliation including loss of their jobs as a result of Ford's
19gross mishandling and failure to eradicate this impermissible
20behavior in their Chicago plants; therefore, be it
 
21    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
22ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Equal

 

 

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1Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Department of
2Human Rights, and the Illinois Department of Labor to
3investigate the culture of harassment at Ford's Illinois plants
4and provide increased support for the brave women who have come
5forward to make their voices heard, and further call upon the
6Governor of Illinois to review all state contracts with Ford
7Motor Company for compliance with the Illinois Human Rights
8Act, the Illinois Procurement Code, and other laws and
9regulations governing state contractors; and be it further
 
10    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
11delivered to Governor Bruce Rauner, the Acting Chair and the
12Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
13the Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the
14Director of the Illinois Department of Labor, and the Board of
15Directors at Ford Motor Company.