Unprotected

I worked 21 years peacefully at General Motors until I arrived at the Pontiac Assembly Center (f/k/a Pontiac East Assembly). During my employment there as a journeyman electrician, I was routinely harassed. When I pleaded with GM management to step in and halt the abuse, the abuse not only intensified but the GM management joined in. I was threatened with physical violence, stalked, forced to clean up behind the men, forced to work jobs the men refused to do and held to a higher standard, refused a pass to medical while experiencing an exacerbation of my Multiple Sclerosis, experienced violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), was called "a Black nigger bitch" by a fellow employee. There were pictures hung in my work area depicting me as "Roadkill" and a "Biitch." There were nooses, KKK outfits, and Confederate flags all over this plant. A GM General Foreman denied me the right to lock out equipment for my safety contrary to The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). When I questioned him about it, he pressed his face close to mine and said, "I can't promise you you're going to live the next few minutes." A fellow electrician sexually harassed me for six years. He finally took a swing at me, punched the locker above my head, breaking every knuckle in his hand because I refused to sleep with him. i An Oakland County, MI, judge granted a summary disposition in GM's favor on all counts. My attorney used a copied deposition with 108 pages missing. GM and the UAW mobbed me. As a result, I now have full-blown, progressive MS. The company and union were well aware that I am afflicted with Multiple3 Sclerosis and didn't care.

Women in the automobile plants are routinely sexually harassed. When they complain, the company and union decide that they need to be silenced. The women are brutally harassed and lose their jobs. Nothing is done to the men. Women are mere sex objects to the men and should behave accordingly. The men do not care if you are married.

Camille McMillan grew up in Detroit during the turbulent 1960s. She excelled in school and was class president and valedictorian of her graduating class. She began working for General Motors in 1976, and performed a variety of jobs. She trained to become a Journeyman Electrician. Since her retirement, she has made it her mission to tell this story.