The Daily - Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017

Episode Date: December 21, 2017

A quarter-century ago, the Ford Motor Company paid out millions of dollars in settlements after a group of women at two Chicago plants accused the company of allowing a culture of harassment and menace. Now, new allegations at the very same Ford plants raise questions about the possibility of change. Guest: Catrin Einhorn, a reporter for The Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, a quarter century ago, Ford Motor Company paid out millions of dollars in settlements after a group of women came forward to accuse the company of a culture of harassment and menace. Now, a new round of allegations

at the very same Ford plants raises questions about the possibility of change. It's Thursday, December 21st. Get away from it all in the new Explorer from Ford. If you're looking for four doors and more interior room than any vehicle in its class, if you want four liter power and push button four wheel drive in the

best selling vehicle in its class, if the only thing you want to leave behind is the city, your Explorer is ready. Have you driven a Ford lately? Okay, so life before Ford, there wasn't a lot of it. Suzette Wright, in the 90s, is a young single mom living in Chicago. I was working two jobs, minimum wage. A receptionist at Supercuts, and she's doing data entry at another company. And taking classes here and there at a community college. Her dad works at the Ford Motor Company. There's a big sprawling plant on the south side of Chicago, on the far south side. And for some reason, I went to visit my dad at the plant. And so she happens to be there one day visiting him,

and someone mentions that there are tests coming up. Tests to get jobs. Tests to get jobs, yeah. Katrin Einhorn is an investigative reporter at The Times. So she takes the test, and she finds out that she gets it. And she is just elated. As she said, crazy, insane, elated. Immediately, I was making a lot more money. She knows that a job at Ford means that she would be tripling her hourly wage. She would go from about $5 an hour to about $15 an hour. Oh my gosh, 30 years, full benefits, you retire, you're good. This was 1993. So what happened when she started working at the factory? Orientation is a really big eye-opener for her. During orientation, all the workers are taken on this tour of the plant.

We go downstairs and we're touring paint and trim department, chassis, seat and cushion, and throughout the entire walk. There were catcalls already, fresh meat being yelled out, men high-fiving each other on the line. They were actually yelling fresh meat? Yes. You could hear it from the aisle. So you knew already that it was going to be a lot, and I had not worked a day yet. What were you doing? What actual job were you doing?

When I first started in the plant, I worked in the seat and cushion department. And so what kinds of things were you doing? Like securing electrical to foam cushions, covering foam cushions, assembling shields to the bottom. This Ford plant assembles cars. So it's getting various car parts like doors and roofs and flooring of cars. And this is where the car actually comes together. And one of the strange things she starts experiencing is that, like, when she walks in to her section every morning, she hears people calling out peanut butter legs. I would come into the section in the morning and the gentleman would start yelling, peanut butter legs, peanut butter legs, and then it would like echo. One would do it, then two more, then four more, then to the whole section is yelling peanut butter legs.

So oblivious as to what all of that is, I continued to work for months until I asked the gentleman next to me, I was like, why do they do that every morning? What is that? And he demures. He's kind of like, oh, trying not to answer. And she's like, no, no, no, you got to tell me, tell me. And she presses him. And he says, Suzette, they're talking about you. And I was like, well, what do you mean? And he said, well, peanut butter, not only is it the color of your legs, but it's the kind of legs you like to spread. And I just was like floored that for months, you know, on end, a whole section of people

was like, I was like the butt of this joke. And I guess it's not a joke even behind her back. It's literally being yelled at her as she walks by. At her face. You know, sometimes she'd be sent to sweep various sections of the plant. Every time I went to pick up dirt or debris or something, the gentleman in my section would grab their crotch and all moan in unison. How did you react? How did you react to the, to the, when you found out about the peanut butter legs when, with these, this moaning and?

Well, unfortunately, because coming in the gate, you already hear the stories about other women who have either been in that position or the retaliation that happens because of it that you already know it's something that you don't talk about. She saw this happening to women all over the factory. So he kind of is like looking like he's looking for food and he purposely rubs the front part of his body against her butt. You know, people talk about you and call

you names and say things about you that are not true. So I walk up and I say, hey, Leroy, lunch on you today? No, but I'd love to have lunch all over you today. I was bent down shooting the seatbelt because you have to bend over in the car. He walked through while I was bending over and rubbed his genitals against my behind. And if you say something and something is done, it gets worse. You know, then they'll find anything in the world to write you up about. So that's why a lot of women do not complain. They don't say anything. She was, in short order, told by veteran women, you know, don't complain.

Don't make trouble. It's only going to be worse for you if you do. If you want to have a good experience working here in this factory, just kind of put your head down and take it. Suzette has a really heartbreaking thing happen to her. Even though it might not be the most egregious thing she experienced, emotionally, it was the most devastatinggregious thing she experienced, emotionally, it was the most devastating up to that time. A gentleman there took me under his wing. His name was Bill. And he would give me pointers. He said, never be late. Make sure that you're learning

every job you possibly can. She said she saw him as an uncle. He explained the ways of the plants and he helped her out a lot. And she has this in and of itself weird thing happen where, you know, she's working in her section and there's constantly a stream of men who are coming up and basically flirting with her. So they're like bringing her lunch or bringing her an apple or bringing her anything. Like they just want to talk to the woman there, right? And one of the men she was working with gets annoyed about that and says, you know, I'm going to put up a sign and say I'm going to charge $5 a visit because this is ridiculous and it's disrupting our area. There was a sign and it said $5 a visit. He was like, I'm tired of it. Well, one of the first men who comes over after this sign is up is this guy,

Bill. So Bill walks up. Your mentor. My mentor and says, sees the sign and says, well, Suzette, if I had known you were charging $ dollars for a blow job i'd have been giving you five dollars a long time ago and i was devastated i just did not expect that from so like it did just deflate me in the moment and it was kind of like one of those moments where you just shrink inside yourself, even though you're standing there. So I, you know, after he left, because I didn't say anything, like I just completely shut down, and eventually he walked away. So the lunch bell rang, and my foreman happened to be walking up, and I said to him, I'm going to need you to call the union. He says, you know, Suzanne, if you go ahead with this claim, Bill will lose his job. Bill's been here over 30 years. He's past retirement age. He will lose all of his retirement.

He'll lose all of his benefits. So, you know, this probably is not a good idea. And I was like, Bill should have been worried about his job. Why do you want me to be worried about a job that he wasn't worried about? It culminates one day when she goes out to her car at the end of her shift and a high-ranking union official is standing there. And he basically delivers the final insult. You know, Suzette, you're a pretty woman. Take it as a compliment. You should take it as a compliment. Wow.

you're a pretty woman, take it as a compliment. You should take it as a compliment. Wow. So the union immediately comes to the defense of the male accused and says, it sounds like even if something happened, think about what it might mean for you to make a complaint against him. That's how I really just felt like the depression kicked in. I just didn't have an outlet for all of what I was experiencing. How was it affecting you?

Like, what were the symptoms that you were having? What was the... Oh, that's a good word. There were just times where I would go to work and I would, like, cry in the parking lot, like, I don't want to be here. There were times when I would go into the plant and call one of my supervisors and say, if you don't need me, I want to go home.

And finally, you know, one day after a manager yells at her in front of all these other workers and says women should have never been in the plant to begin with, she goes on medical leave. I ended up doing like two months outpatient therapy for depression, PTSD, and anxiety, and did so quietly, like for a long time. I didn't tell anybody that people thought I was going to work, but I was checking into the hospital every day because I was just so overwhelmingly depressed. She's left feeling, why can't I manage this? I've gotten this golden ticket that so many people want

to get, and here I am falling apart. What's wrong with me? Why can't I make this work? And, you know, I think a lot of it for Suzette is not just the abuse itself, but it's the lack of recourse. It's that when you complain about the abuse, nothing happens. When you talk to other co-workers about the abuse, they downplay it. And you're left kind of feeling like you're crazy. You're like, wait, this isn't right. What's happening to me is not right. But everyone around me is acting like this is just the way it is. And I just need to kind of get with the program. From the WMAQ TV newsroom, From the WMAQ-TV newsroom, this is NBC5 Chicago, live at 6 a.m. So, as the universe would have it, I'm at my grandparents' house,

and the news comes on, and there's a story by Renee Ferguson about the ladies at the stamping plant. The women say they endured the touching, the teasing, even coerced sex for years, each fighting back in her own way. And she sees a news report about women at another Ford factory in Chicago who are suing for sexual harassment. And I was floored. Floored. Couldn't believe it. And all of a sudden, she sees some recourse. And she gets in touch with one of their lawyers. And she decides to join other women and sue Ford. And what exactly does she want from this lawsuit?

What's her intention in joining the lawsuit? She tells that her lawyer sits her down and asks her that in the very beginning. He said, first things first, what do you want as a result of this lawsuit? And I said, I want an apology. He said to me, that'll never happen, so just give me a number. What do you want? In sexual harassment settlements, typically the company doesn't admit liability. So there's a dollar amount that's paid out.

But usually what you're not going to get is an apology. So, you know, all along, everyone's telling her, you're not going to get an apology. Her mom tells her, you know, her therapist tells her, but she is adamant. I knew I needed it. And so I was determined to get it. And what ends up happening? So Suzette finds out that there's going to be a press conference downtown to announce the settlement. It's September 1999.

She decides this is going to be her opportunity to get this apology that she has so longed for. I'm going to the press conference. She gets there. All the networks are there. You know, all the cameras are lined up. We're in a huge conference room with two doors. There's cameras from one end of the room to the other. Ford's attorneys are there and they see me and they're whispering in the corner and Jim Padilla walks out for Ford. Jim Padilla. So now my heart is racing. He says, oh, you know, at Ford, we're all a family. And when our family is damaged,

then we have to work to make it right, like all this stuff. And I'm thinking, do you have no idea what goes on in the plant? You, as he's wrapping up his thing, I know this right now is my moment. So I literally squeeze, and I'm a big girl, squeeze between cameras and say, excuse me, as he's walking away. And I introduced myself. I said what plan I worked in. I said how many years I worked there. And I said, now would be the perfect opportunity for you to offer me and all of the other women a public apology for what we've endured. He is not expecting this. This is totally off the script. And he said, to the extent that anyone was treated

with less than human dignity, I apologize. I said, I hope you mean it. So that's a very technical variation on an apology. It's not exactly an apology. Right. And Suzette realizes that? So that was like the vindication. Even though you forced it. Even, I didn't care.

Listen, I didn't care how I got it or who gave it to me. It could have been the janitor. But somebody that was currently working at Ford Motor Company was going to apologize to me. She's like, you know what? At least I confronted them. And at least they said the word. We apologize, no matter how couched it ended up being. I got the apology.

When I talked to her, her mom was there also. And that is all she wanted. It was a man for her. It was never the money. It was the change in the structure and in sticking up for women and, you know, like the Lisa Rae of, what was that movie? I don't know. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Norma Rae. Yeah, it was big for me. It's such a goofy moment, but it was big for me.

How does Suzette's case itself pan out? Essentially what happens is all those various actions that were happening from different sides come together. And Ford agrees to pay $22 million. But many women who sued Ford got in the $100,000, $200,000, and more, in some cases, range. Ford agrees to implement a training program.

There's going to be independent monitors who are policing the factory floor, who are watching how managers are dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. Ford says it's going to make some real changes within the factories. So Suzette gets this apology. It's a forced apology, but an apology.

She gets a payment, and Ford agrees to institute these changes. The problem for Suzette and some of the other plaintiffs is that they're told that in order for the settlement to work, they have to give up their jobs. Why would that be? Her lawyer says that Ford was not willing to settle unless certain women agreed to leave the plants. Ford lawyers denied this at one point, but certainly Suzette was left feeling that whether it was her lawyer, whether it was Ford, there was no way for her to get out of this without saying goodbye to her job. I battled with that for a long time because, you know, I'm fighting for us there to work. Why do I have to go?

why do I have to go? But I knew that they saw me as the problem, which pissed me off to no end because they were the problem. I just was exposing the problem. So Suzette has to sacrifice her dream job in order for the company to become the kind of place where she would actually want to work. Yeah. There was a serious personal consequence for me.

And I felt and I still feel that there's usually some people who have to take the brunt of it. But we do that for the hopes that it doesn't happen again. So when they finally reach the settlement, the feeling is that this is going to change things. Not only are individual workers receiving damages, but procedures are being put in place at the plants so that this kind of situation will not happen again. All these measures taken together are supposed to change the situation, are supposed to stop this from happening again. I started Ford June 6, 1977. As part of the settlement,

there were three independent monitors who go into the plants. They're policing how Ford is responding. They're helping Ford institute a new training program. And actually, we spoke with a woman who was one of the trainers. They came in with the attitude, oh, here's another class that's being pushed on us. But once you started the classes, you know, they will open up. For example, she told of one class where a man spoke about how he himself had harassed a woman. He had propositioned her, she had turned him down, but he said that she had slept with him. And he started spreading

those rumors. He said, I would love to apologize to her in front of the class. So we set it up when he, we went to break, went down and got her, brought up, and he apologized in front of the class, and it was so emotional. People were crying? Yeah, even me. The trainers and the employees who were taking the class were watching through tears. So it seems like this training might be working. Yeah, women say that things were quieter for a time. They use that word often, quieter. And when the independent monitors left the plant, they gave Ford really high marks. They said they did a good job, but they also warned Ford that it would be easy to backslide. Several women suing Ford Motor Company for sexual harassment at a Chicago facility.

Ford Motor Company for sexual harassment at a Chicago facility. Workers are also claiming discrimination and retaliation at that assembly plant on the city's south side. Cheryl and Ron, this isn't the first time we've heard these types of complaints about Chicago's Ford assembly plant. There was another case several years ago, but today's lawsuit is based on new allegations about what they say is a workplace hostile to women. So maybe we could just start by asking us, when you started working at Ford, and what job... So, Catherine, you and our colleague, Susan Chira, set out to understand what went wrong in these Ford plants. How did you start? Mainly, we started talking to employees, former and current.

Mainly, we started talking to employees, former and current. My name is Sharmella Lavige, and I started working for Ford in 2000, October. My name is Terry Lewis-Bletso. My name is Tanya Exum, and I'm from Chicago Stamping Plant. I started in... I'm presently in the paint department, and I've been in the paint department. I worked the lift gate outer, which is Ford Explorer. Well, I experienced quite a few encounters of sexual harassment, groping on my body. There were instances where he would come up and smack me on my bottom. I got the text messages.

Come over here right now. Take a picture of your boobs for me. And, you know, each person led us to another person. He called himself White Chocolate. He said that he had a black man's dick. And I did tell him, don't talk to me like that. That's unacceptable. He walked into the same cell that I'm in and grabs my behind.

I turned around to him and I said, keep your hands to yourself. When he would see me at work, he'd come in between the lines and press his penis up on my booty and be like, uh, my wife gets my whole work check, but she don't have sex with me. I was propositioned. I slept with him because I needed my job. They told stories of women who acquiesced to advances. They also talked about retaliation against women who complained. I reported it. And then to be told by my union rep, that's just him, he has no filter.

I was appalled. I was just threw back. Because for him to say that to me was saying, in essence, oh, it's OK. These claims are strikingly similar to what you described in the 1990s. It feels like a direct echo. It was uncanny. I mean, how is it that a company can pay out millions of dollars, implement all these different procedures, and really try to change things, and then 20 years later, they find themselves exactly where they were? And what we found is that basically Ford didn't act aggressively and consistently enough to really stamp out sexual harassment,

which is a hard thing to do. That it didn't fire harassers quickly enough, so workers were left basically feeling like sexual harassment was going to go unpunished. The training that the monitors had underlined so forcefully did in fact wane at times. And the women say that, you know, Ford was unable to really stop the retaliation, which is this really traumatic part of what they were experiencing. But so far in these settlements, Ford has not admitted fault or liability, right? That's right. That's right. Not in the 90s and not today.

When I found out that there was another lawsuit, it kind of was like a kick in the gut because that was the whole purpose, is that the women didn't have to go through what we went through and what I knew the women before me went through. You know, when you talk to Suzette— You know, it's disheartening because in the moment that we're in in the country when allegations are being brought forward, the sooner someone apologizes and accepts the responsibility, the sooner the healing can begin for the people who were offended. And by them not taking the responsibility, it leaves the women still very much wounded. I need a moment. Take your time. That's just, you know, because the apology

was so important for me. Yeah. So 20 years later to hear their statement of they're not accepting any responsibility or any liability, you know, it's just like a take back of the apology. Does it feel like something might change this time at the factories? Not at all. I have zero confidence that anything will be different. I

think that growth and change happens when the responsibility is taken. So if you're not going to do that, then the growth and change is not going to happen. When you see people like NBC fire Matt Lauer, you know that there is some consequence to behavior. And so that's the vast difference. But Ford would say we are firing people. I mean, they have fired people. And they would say, you know, we're taking all these steps. We're implementing this training. We're doing these things.

We're trying. But I think what you're saying is that actually looking at people who've been harmed and saying, I'm so sorry that we did something wrong and I apologize for that, that in and of itself is an important piece for you. It is an important piece. And I think just not for me, but for what it represents outwardly to everyone else. out what she represents outwardly to everyone else. When this first started, we would come into the room and be surprised that we were seeing the woman that we had worked next to for years be feeling the same pain as us because no one was talking about this. You mean the room in the lawyer's office or something like that?

Yes, when we were being introduced to other people who were maybe in the lawsuit, someone would come in the room and you would be like, oh, my God, I didn't know you were going through this also. And we could be working next to each other for years. I wouldn't know that they were suffering like I was suffering. Like, we didn't talk about this. This was, you know, 20 years ago. We were very much afraid. And so I really thought that the first lawsuit would give room for that, where women would feel less afraid. And then to now hear the stories where they were equally as afraid or that, you know, the retaliation was

exactly the same. It's hard. So I just really want people to understand that, you know, these are real women and this is not easy. I'm going to go. Here's what else you need to know today. The people right behind me, they've worked so long, so hard. It's been an amazing experience, I have to tell you. Hasn't been done in 34 years, but actually really hasn't been done because we broke every record. 34 years, but actually really hasn't been done because we broke every record. Standing in front of the White House with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday, President Trump celebrated the passage of the $1.5 trillion Republican tax plan.

It's the largest tax cut in the history of our country and reform, but tax cut. Really something special. Aides say President Trump intends to sign the bill within the next 10 days. When you think you haven't heard this expression, but we are making America great again. You haven't heard that, have you? And on Wednesday, the Times announced that after an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior, Glenn Thrush would be allowed to return to the newsroom following a two-month unpaid suspension, but would be removed from his beat covering the White House. In a statement, executive editor Dean Baquet said, quote, while we believe that Glenn has acted offensively,

we have decided that he does not deserve to be fired. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow. Thank you.