On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 7:40 PM, <LawrLCL@aol.com> wrote:
From: LawrLCL@aol.com
To: landrightsnfarming@gmail.com
Sent: 4/19/2011 9:23:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
From: LawrLCL@aol.com
To: lawrlcl@aol.com
Sent: 4/9/2011 11:47:11 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Fwd: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
From: rncott1@aol.com
To: lesa@snowcrest.net, lawrlcl@aol.com
Sent: 4/8/2011 8:44:23 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
Good Lesa, go for it!!
-----Original Message-----
From: Lesa Donnelly <lesa@snowcrest.net>
To: lawrlcl <lawrlcl@aol.com>; Rncott1@aol.com
Sent: Fri, Apr 8, 2011 12:18 am
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fw: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 14:39:37 -0700 From: Pam Balazer <pbalazer@fs.fed.us> To: lesa@snowcrest.net
Pam Balazer
Battalion 81 Asst. Fuels Officer
Los Padres National Forest
34580 Lockwood Valley Rd.
Frazier Park, CA 93225
Phone: 661-245-3731 x250
Cell: 661-289-0029
Email: pbalazer@fs.fed.us
----- Forwarded by Pam Balazer/R5/USDAFS on 04/07/2011 02:39 PM -----
Joe L Duran/R5/USDAFS 04/07/2011 02:22 PM
Fw: Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
FYI
Joe L. Duran
Wilderness Trail Manager
Forest Service
Los Padres National Forest
Santa Lucia Ranger District
1616 Carlotti Drive
Santa Maria, California 93454
Office: (805) 925-9538 x 220
Fax: (805) 961-5781
Cell: (805) 448-6617
E-Mail: jduran@fs.fed.us
----- Forwarded by Joe L Duran/R5/USDAFS on 04/07/2011 02:21 PM -----
Dan Duefrene/R5/USDAFS 04/07/2011 02:11 PM
pdl wo ops hrm fsc executive board@FSNOTES Lonnie M Lewis/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Randy Meyer/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Sue Allen/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, John McRae/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Bob Caufield/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Joe L Duran/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Barry McDonald/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, John M Chapman/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Susan Forbes/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Dan Duefrene/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Robert J Ethridge/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Deborah McIntosh/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Kimberly Ganz/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Constance J Hendryx/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Jim Lopez/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Jonel D Wagoner/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Dani Swantic/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES, Susan M Jack/R5/USDAFS@FSNOTES Freda Ex FS Employee on NPR Radio this week
CONAN: We're talking about sex discrimination in the workplace, 800-989-8255. Email talk@npr.org. Let's start with Freda(ph), Freda with us from New Mexico.
FREDA (Caller): Hello.
CONAN: Hi, Freda, you're on the air.
FREDA: Hi. Yeah, I wanted to relate - I've been a federal employee with the U.S. Forest Service for more than 30 years, originally as a seasonal and then as a permanent.
Back in the late '70s, I experienced threats of physical harm in my job. I was in wildland, fire and land management. And it got better through the early to mid-'80s, and then it's actually in the last seven, eight years, it's as bad as it was in the '70s.
CONAN: Really?
FREDA: And it's not about policy because the policies are clearly in place. It's the federal - it's the federal workplace. But there is no accountability.
And when, you know, we're talking - we're looking now at the possibility of furloughs. Those people in those jobs are all about safety and security. And I've worked in five different states.
The discrimination was - also had a racial bias when I was in the northern (unintelligible) states. And I'm in New Mexico now, in part to get away from that. I can't change the fact that I'm female. But I can at least change the fact that I dont stand out as much racially.
But it's clearly - I mean, I have physical threats and threats of violence with firearms and even bringing physical proof to law enforcement agents within the agency and generally having them tell me it's time to move on.
CONAN: Time to move - in other words to leave.
FREDA: Yeah, yeah. They weren't going to bother to deal with it. I even had - I've had three different mediators come in from the outside, not specifically on my case, but when they were talking to our forest teams in general, say, you know, you're wasting your time here. They don't have to change. They're not going to change. You need to find a different way.
But, you know, at the time, I was idealistic and thought, how do you get the system to change if you're not willing to work from within? You know, I thought it was about performance. And I just set new records for the first person to get outstanding performance appraisals with no monetary or certificate awards.
So it's pretty discouraging, and I would not recommend any female relative, friend or acquaintance to bother with the federal government and the forest service. It's not worth - certainly it's no longer worth the pay, either. But all the education you can bring to it, and your sincerity, there's too much male dominance.
And in - I've been in a lot of the Western states, where specific religious cultures can be dominant, too.
CONAN: Ilene, that's a depressing call. But I thank you for it. And Ilene Lang, you would think the federal government would be a model, as our caller said. All of the rules are in effect.
Ms. LANG: Well, it is a depressing call. And I think that it's a - you have to remember the government's a huge employer, and there are different kinds of jobs and different situations. And I feel terrible to hear the story that this woman just told.
