Jon Hendry is the former president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor and the former business agent for the local chapter of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees.
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Former union leader denies allegations
Jon Hendry is the former president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor and the former business agent for the local chapter of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees.
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I read the first article of Valdez's allegations against Hendry, and am glad to see the followup of this case. It seems quite odd that the plaintiff would "adamantly deny" any allegations, but one of the defendants has text conversations from him that were pretty clear harassment if nothing else. Upon reading this article, I forgot all of the detail, so I went back and reread it. Looking back helped me clarify the claims of the lawsuit and if you read Valdez's statements there seems to be sufficient evidence that he was harassing her, but also seems like many people knew about him racketeering with employment to his advantage. Between this article and the previous, another woman has joined Valdez in her lawsuit. Starting to see multiple people speak up about their experiences creates a very forceful tide. It was extremely discouraging to hear that the democratic representative questioned the credibility of the claims. I cannot fathom the pain and isolation that must come from speaking up, and to have someone ask if you're making it up is insulting at the least but goes back to a deeper problem.
It is disturbing the regularity with which sexual harassment plagues the workplace, especially in the Entertainment industry. While much of the focus of the media and in general has been about people in the top of the Industry in Film and TV, such as Harvey Weinstein et. al, this is just one of many stories of sexual harassment that has plagued the Technical Theatre Industry and shown how poorly women are treated in an unfortunately male dominated industry. Another prominent and relevant case similar to this is that which occurred at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. It is further disturbing to see that someone who sexually harassed women went from a position of power in a union, to an even larger position of power in a union that represents unions. This is so bad on so many levels, but it cuts to the core effectiveness of unions, as a significant component of unions and their effectiveness includes their ability to combat employers that are making unsafe or unfair work environments. This degrades the legitimacy of the union, as it makes their work questionable when the leader of the union is acting in this way.
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