TODAY
[Oct. 19] IS SUPPOSED TO BE "WORLD MENTAL HEALTH
DAY"
WITH A SPECIAL THEME OF "MENTAL HEALTH AND WORK."
--
BUT WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO HUMAN RIGHTS???
SEND A
MESSAGE TO THE WORLD BANK TO "JUST SAY NO" TO
GLOBALIZATION OF CORPORATE PSYCHIATRIC OPPRESSION!!
The *BELOW* article
by United Auto Worker activist Greg Shotwell describes how
psychiatric oppression is now used to silence dissident union
activists! This is a very good day to break the silence
about psychiatric oppression of labor. Why? The World Federation
for Mental Health (WFMH) promotes the global
spread of the "mental health system." WFMH has
declared today, October 10, 2000, to be World Mental
Health Day on the theme of "Mental Health and Work."
But WFMH isn't focusing on human rights. What
about the use of psychiatric labeling, psychiatric
institutionalization, and psychiatric drugging
to bust unions and control workers? WFMH
now works very closely with the World Bank, which
has a new special division to promote the globalization
of corporate psychiatry. WFMH openly states
that psychiatric drug corporations help fund World
Mental Health Day. Is this why WFMH doesn't spend
much time talking about psychiatric human rights
violations, such as during their bi-annual World
Congresses? (Get ready: The next WFMH World Congress
is in Vancouver July 22 - 27, 2001. Support Coalition
International is already networking planned Mad
Pride actions that month in four nations against globalization
of corporate psychiatric human rights violations.
See news item at bottom of this alert.)
(1) Please forward the *BELOW* article
to all appropriate places on and off
the Internet.
(2) Make sure WFMH gets the message:
E-mail to World Federation for
Mental Health. Forward this message,
or send a civil message in your own words. MESSAGE
TO World Federation for Mental Health E-mail
to: <
wfmh@erols.com>
WFMH: "Break the silence about psychiatric human rights
violation against workers! Tell the World Bank
that promoting the mental health system without stopping
psychiatric human rights violations is worse than
nothing!"
- Your name.
- Your contact info [optional].
[Copy your message to us at: office@MindFreedom.org
]
FORD
HAS A BETTER IDEA: SHRINKS INSTEAD OF BENNET'S BOYS
by Gregg Shotwell <
Gmshot@aol.com>
UAW Local 2151
In the hard knock days Ford used Harry
Bennet and his gang of thugs to
execute control and inflict intimidation.
Under the influence of William Clay Ford
the company has become more sophisticated. Today
Ford uses the Central Diagnostic and Referral Agency
as its preferred means of repression. Union members
who are vocal about their rights, who demand the
company follow the contract and the union represent
them are put out on a psyche-medical by Labor
Relations fiat. I couldn't believe it, but within
a week I heard from three different members in
three different Ford plants. Their stories are eerily
the same. The pattern reveals a
policy of harassment. All three
members were put on medical by Labor Relations without
a doctor's permission and ordered to undergo a
psychological evaluation by a company appointed psychiatrist
before they could return. All three were
considered dissidents by union and management. Two
had expressed their intentions to run for elective
union positions. In each case union officials
supported, assisted, and/or instigated the action.
None of the people I spoke to had acted violently
or made threats.
Here's how it works.
Ford has a joint committee called
Behavioral Emergency and Critical
Incident Debriefing [BE/CISD] which
includes the union appointed Employee Support Services
Person better known in some companies as EAP.
The purpose of the committee is to debrief the victims
of traumatic events like a power plant explosion
where the grievances filed against the fatal
boiler disappear in the blast and six workers die
from what some may call negligent homicide. The committee
is also empowered to handle behavioral emergencies
as when someone acts violently or makes threats.
In a diabolical twist of jointness Ford and the UAW are
using the program to silence dissent. Apparently
if you don't believe in the Ford Production
System and the mandates of their appointed union officials,
you must be crazy. I have chosen not
to reveal the victims' names in this
article as litigation may be pending. Neither
do I wish to instigate further harassment of
these individuals nor exacerbate their troubles. The
purpose of this article is to examine the pattern
of harassment, alert other union members, and
network with other victims who more than likely are
feeling isolated and powerless against the Ford/UAW
partnership.
The first person I spoke to is a woman
and former committee person with a
reputation for fighting back. She
doesn't believe in rolling over and
neither the company nor union officials like it. She's
assertive, indomitable, and says, "I talk to men
the same way they talk to me". I talked with her on
the phone for more than sixty minutes in two separate
conversations and I never heard her cuss. But
I also had the impression she could go toe to toe
and nose to nose with any union tough or company thug.
She's been out of work more than six months for refusing
to knuckle under to their psychological intimidation.
The time off hasn't softened her up one
bit. She's a line worker to the core and she'll be
walking a hard line until the Final Whistle blows her
time card sky high. The director of TEAM Inc., contracted
by the Central Diagnostic & Referral Agency,
tried to finagle her into submitting to the psyche
evaluation. She asked why he was willing to compromise
the integrity of the Employee Support Services
Program by allowing management to use it as
a disciplinary tool. She shamed him into writing a
note to Labor Relations recommending she be allowed
to return to work. Labor Relations ignored the
recommendation and put her out of the plant. The official
local union has done nothing to support her. Indeed
they recommend she follow orders and submit. She
stands alone yet feels her principles and her dignity
are inviolable.
The second UAW member I spoke with is a
middle age black male with over 25
years seniority. I interviewed him
in person for a good hour. He was easy
going, even tempered, and once again didn't use a
cuss word or even refer to his persecutors in derogatory
terms. He was calm, articulate, and evidently
well educated in unionism. He intended to run
for union office. The day after he expressed disagreement
with the Local Union president at a union
meeting he was called into Labor Relations. Naturally
he asked for his union rep to be present. With
the consent of the union he was put on medical by
Labor Relations pending a psychological evaluation.
He complied. The psychiatrist found nothing
wrong, but he still wasn't allowed to return to
work until the NLRB got involved. From the NLRB official
he learned that his union rep had written a statement
asserting that the defendant suffered Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder from his experience in Vietnam.
He never went to Vietnam. He graduated from high
school in 1974. It was three months before he was
able to return to work. Then the company restricted
his access to most areas of the plant and he
was unable to counter the smear campaign staged against
him.
The third person I talked with was a
middle age white male and a skilled
tradesman with more than 15 years
seniority. Once again, I found he was not the type
to resort to abusive language. He too had made known
his intention to run for union office. Apparently
the only thing he was guilty of was "I spoke
my mind and disturbed the powers that be." After
repeated incidents of harassment he wrote a letter
to Labor Relations expressing his complaint. "I
didn't name names. I simply described the situation."
The next day he was called into Labor Relations
and the BE/CISD committee told him that because
threats had been made against him they were going
to put him out of the plant pending a psychological
evaluation. And Alice thought the Queen
of Hearts was nuts. He went to three
company appointed psychiatrists and
one independent psychiatrist and none of them found
anything wrong. Despite positive medical recommendations
he was not allowed to return to work until
he hired an attorney. He was out of work for three
months. His chance of winning a union election had
been effectively sabotaged.
This harassment policy doesn't simply
repress dissent, it also discredits the Employee Support
Services Program (ESSP). Just as some joint Health &
Safety committees discourage employees from reporting injuries
or writing grievances, Ford's abuse of the joint BE/CISD
committee contaminates the credibility of the ESSP and
discourages people from getting the help
they may need. It's joint cost containment at the
expense of union members health. Ford with the assistance
of union lackeys has turned the ESSP into a
ruthless instrument of psychological persecution.
If you or anyone you know has been
victimized in a similar fashion,
please write to The Voice. A class action
lawsuit against Ford and their union buffoons may
be in order. But more importantly, a revolt is in
order. The insidious use of the medical profession
as a means of control and intimidation is anti-union,
anti-human, and morally repulsive. What next?
Electro Convulsive Shock for dissidents?
A thug is a thug is a thug, and the henchman
can't hide behind the kinder, gentler face of
the glossy and glamorous William Clay Ford. In
the thirties and forties workers organized to evict
Ford's goons with a collective force that demanded
dignity in the workplace for every individual.
Today, we need to expose Ford's new method
of control and intimidation for what it is: psychological
rape. We need to resist each and every assault
on our freedom and dignity. We need to instigate
a groundswell of activity that will overwhelm
the complicity of weak union officials. We need
to educate our brothers and sisters on their rights
and we need to defend those rights tooth and nail.
An injury to one is an injury to all is not a slogan,
it's a battle cry.
In Solidarity,
Gregg Shotwell <
Gmshot@aol.com>
UAW Local 2151
[Above article redistributed with author's permission.]
NEWS ALERT:
JULY 2001 -- INTERNATIONAL MAD PRIDE EVENTS TO
RESIST CORPORATE PSYCHIATRY GLOBALIZATION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
On Sunday, October 8, 2000, the Support Coalition
International board of directors voted
unanimously to support international "MAD
PRIDE" events in July 2001 to resist corporate
psychiatry human rights violations, such
as drug company funded campaigns for more forced
psychiatric drugging. MAD PRIDE
events in July 2000 united creative cultural
& political psychiatric survivor events in
half a dozen countries. MAD PRIDE JULY 2001 events
are already planned in four nations, including
Vancouver, Canada during the WFMH World
Congress. Be on this free DENDRITE e-mail list
to receive occasional MAD PRIDE news updates.
MAD PRIDE -- USA PSYCHIATRIC SURVIVOR
MOVEMENT IS THIRTY YEARS OLD THIS
YEAR! CELEBRATE! RESIST!
PHOTO GALLERY of 30 psychiatric survivor
activists and allies is now on
Support Coalition home page. Go to
http://www.MindFreedom.org
and click on the photo for more
photos, and Highlander strategy story.
*** DENDRON DEADLINE EXTENDED ***
DENDRON is the print newsjournal of
Support Coalition. The theme of the
next issue of DENDRON is *youth* resistance to
psychiatric human rights violations. Your news, letters, resource
listings, drawings and photos are welcome. The
deadline has been extended to October 10, 2000. Please
e-mail your submission to:
office@mindfreedom.org
If you have not yet seen DENDRON, and
you are interested in joining
Support Coalition, you can e-mail your postal address for
a sample copy of the 64-page summer issue. This is while the
last of the 10,000 print run lasts -- it's almost out. To
see the cover of the summer DENDRON, go to
http://www.MindFreedom.org
and click on "Dendron."
DENDRITE is a public Internet alert system about human rights in psychiatry, sponsored by Support Coalition
International, sending out notices to thousands of concerned people, many of whom take ACTION NOW!
Support Coalition International is an independent non-profit federation of more than 70 groups in 11 countries united
to WIN campaigns for human rights in the "mental health system." For info on Support Coalition, see the web site:
www.efn.org/~dendron
