by Jessica Carreras
From left to right: GM Plus members Soren Bech, Joe LaMuraglia, Sabine Blake, Karen Rafferty and Monique Brentley at A Night Out with Cadillac, held in New York earlier this year. Photo courtesy of GM Plus.
When major companies go through an economic crisis, the entire business is affected – from the highest CEO to the hourly employees. So it goes for employee resource groups, too, and as Ford, General Motors and Chrysler struggle to rebuild and redefine themselves following massive monetary breakdowns, each company's LGBT resource group has done the same.
The past few years have been tough on GM Plus (People Like Us), Chrysler POD (People of Diversity) and Ford GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees). Loss of membership, the strain of less employees handling more work and a shift of focus away from each company's philanthropic efforts have left the groups in limbo for some time: unable to accomplish much, to make strides toward acceptance and equal rights, to secure funding for the causes they care about.
But now, say leaders from all three groups, things are starting to look up. Plans for events, grants and growth are all underway and the future looks promising for LGBT employees at the Big Three.
One of the biggest goals lately has been educating new leadership.
"We're adjusting to the new organization, trying to figure out who's where and who does what," explains GM Associate Director of Competitor Intelligence and GM Plus Chair Adam Bernard. "Internally, one of the main things we've been able to do -because it's free – is a lot of the educational presentations. We've been going to a number of executive staff meetings at the top levels of the company to do a 15-minute pitch about who we are, these are the key issues with our constituency and here are some ways we can help from a business standpoint."
But more than just educating new executives, adds Chysler POD Co-Chair and Head of Parts Technical Development Arana Long, it has been about reaching out to employees and building membership. "POD is in a 'rebuilding' phase after losing so many people to retirements and voluntary terminations," she says. "We just attended the annual Out and Equal Workplace Summit and have quite a few ideas and options that we are investigating for next year. We also attended this year's OUT for Work Career Fair held in Washington DC in September to recruit LGBT college seniors for various open positions we have at Chrysler."
For Ford GLOBE, that effort has included reaching out to hourly employees at the plants as well, many of whom face longer workdays and are thus less able to be involved in volunteer employee groups. "Our hourly board member just stepped down because she found it very difficult because of the work schedules and so on to make it to the board meetings," says GLOBE Chair and Ford Global Health and Safety Director Greg Stone. "That created a gap for us, so we'll have to try some different strategies to focus on the hourly workforce."
And, adds Stone, GLOBE is also trying to expand to other countries, encouraging Ford offices in South America, Mexico and beyond to not only extend same-sex domestic partner benefits to their employees, but to start GLOBE chapters there as well. Currently, there are four GLOBE chapters: in southeast Michigan and Florida, plus British and German contingents.
All three groups are focusing on building their membership and boards at a local level – a difficult task when most auto employees already have their hands full.
"I think with all the groups, it's more of a challenge (to recruit employees)," says Bernard. "Those of us who are here now are doing more work with fewer people, so there's a slightly higher stress level because we're doing more with our day jobs while trying to do some diversity stuff as well."
Adds Stone, "We're there because we're very committed, but it's not easy."
But one obstacle that is thankfully not standing in the way as much as it used to, they agree, is the ability for employees to come out without fear of losing their jobs.
Though Michigan currently has no law protecting LGBT workers from being fired, all three of the Big Three have policies in place preventing just that. Still, says Bernard, auto executives are shocked to hear that LGBT discrimination in the workplace is legal in the state.
"For us, the big 'ah-ha' moment is when we tell leadership that in the state of Michigan, you can be fired not just for being GLBT, but for being perceived as being GLBT and you have no legal recourse," he says. "Jaws drop when they hear that."
Stone adds, however, that for hourly workers, coming out is still tougher than for salaried employees.
"It's something we've had some conversations with the UAW Diversity Office on and it's something we'll continue to try to outreach to hourly people and try to make that situation better," he says of the issue. "I mean, there's nothing overtly negative, but it just seems much more difficult at the plant-level on a day-to-day basis."
Beyond getting more employees to join, each of the groups hopes to reintroduce their philanthropic efforts within the next year, which had been mostly dormant since the automotive economic crisis.
In the past, the Big Three had been known to donate as much as $250,000 per year to Affirmations. Now, both GM and Chrysler have all but stopped donations, while Ford has been barely holding on with contributions of $25,000 per year to the Ferndale-based LGBT community center.
But that stands to change.
"We're interested in recommitting to Affirmations, we just haven't done it yet," says Bernard. "We were disappointed we weren't able to do that recently, but there were extraordinary circumstances. It's certainly not from a lack of interest, but a lack of funds."
And all three groups have continued to make contributions to their communities through such efforts as volunteering with Steppin' Out or the Ruth Ellis Center, or making donations to causes like breast cancer, HIV/AIDS and PFLAG.
Now that they have survived the worst storm, each group plans to build, grow and become prominent once again.
"I believe we have many opportunities over the next few years," Long says hopefully. "Our current plan focuses on helping marketing with their initiatives in the LGBT community and increasing LGBT awareness thru internal education."
Adds Bernard, "This has been a year of transition, and we're hoping to ramp things up a bit more next year. I think we're going to be reinvented, I think we're going to build on the momentum we've got."
