How lewd can they go? (Sexual harassment is against the law, isn't it?)

https://secure.ga6.org/08/sexharass/n_pS3S57qK2eI?

Read the shocking stories of Ana and Zenon and help other workers fight back.

Sexual harassment is against the law, isn't it? Well, for the women and men working in the fields it can be a common occurrence.



I want to share the story of Ana Maria and her husband Zenon with you. Then I want to ask you to donate to help us fight these abuses.

Ana and Zenon work together in the fields. An ideal situation, no? Not for Ana. She tells how her boss at Ag Force, LLC grabs her butt and will intentionally toss the plums into her breasts, while he makes gestures with his mouth in a gross manner. Says Ana, "when this happens I feel embarrassment and I sometimes cry for the problems it causes between me and my husband."

Her husband Zenon tells us, "Another of the bad habits that this boss has is when the women are climbing the ladders, he stands underneath them and looks at them lecherously."

What’s scary is that the above abuses are comparatively mild. Ana tells us how the supervisor "carries a plastic penis in his truck and one time told the crew 'Look at what he who stays behind will get,' showing us this plastic object." She says no one says a word. The women just bow their heads for this embarrassment it caused them.

Zenon tells us the supervisor just doesn't do this to women. He also applies this lewd pressure to men. He tells us how one day, the workers were all standing together at the end of their rows waiting for the order to leave. The supervisor took out a black rag, where he had a plastic penis and began to tease a gay man, showing him the penis and playing with it in his hands. We all were able to see this, including the women. Zenon said, "In that moment I felt powerless and wanted to beat the crap out of him because he has no respect for us at all."

Everything this guy says is lewd and disgusting. Zenon tells us how he dreaded going to work in the mornings, hearing the supervisor's voice because it always was "insulting and filthy talk that has nothing to do with our job." He told us how he and Ana finally quit their jobs on August 5, as they couldn't take it anymore.

I want to tell you the abuse and indignities Ana and Zenon suffered through are rare--but I can't. It happens at plenty of other companies as well. We hear these stories of sexual harassment all too often. This situation is just wrong. A worker should never have to say, like Ana did, when her boss squeezed her butt, "At that moment I felt humiliated and angry and I wanted to cry at the fact that I could do nothing."

Please help us give workers like Ana and Zenon a voice. History has shown the only way farm workers can have decent conditions is with a union contract. Every dollar you send will help us continue to organize farm workers. Please make your donation today.

who abuse their employees in this manner. They probably think they can get away with such harassment because they figure their workers are poor and afraid of losing their jobs or undocumented and fearful of exposure.