CTA Executive Asked To Resign Over Lewd Emails And Text Messages

(Source) The CTA is under fire for a “workplace culture often blatantly demeaning to women” and a top official just lost his job over some sexually explicit emails, says the Tribune’s transportation columnist.  David Kowalski, the CTA’s senior safety adviser, and another male employee swapped messages “crudely commenting about a female colleague’s appearance,” among other disturbing communications. 

Kowalski resigned from his job at CTA President Dorval Carter Jr.’s request on Friday. He had worked at the CTA for more than 40 years and was already scheduled to retire Dec. 31. “I was surprised and certainly disturbed by what I read in the emails,” Carter told the Tribune.  Carter, who was not president of the CTA t the time the emails in question were sent, says that the CTA needs a workplace overhaul.  “Clearly that type of behavior isn’t something that I believe is appropriate in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter. I was totally shocked, to be quite honest with you, that Dave Kowalski would be engaged in that kind of behavior,” Carter said. 

It’s against the transit agency’s policy to use CTA electronics to transit offensive material to or about others, spokesman Brian Steele told the Tribune. 

Sent between 2008 to 2012, the emails contain troubling accounts of high-ranking CTA officials describing female body parts and bragging about drinking and slacking off on the job, according to the Tribune:

•Sexually explicit back-and-forth dialogue between Kowalski and two women, one of whom now says she was coerced and feared retribution.•Brash email exchanges between Kowalski and another high-ranking male employee during CTA meetings that refer to female body parts as “hams” and “walnuts.”

•Abundant references to consuming alcohol, even suggesting that some of the drinking occurred on CTA time.

•Braggadocio about using out-of-town trips to transit conventions and other events as opportunities for “slacker time.”

The emails were full of offensive quotes about female employees including:  “Tunnel woman is showing you lots of prime ham red,'” Kowalski emailed to a director in the rail maintenance division, under the subject line “Meeting,” according to the Tribune.  “Can you have the a/c shut off so she takes her jacket off,” the now retired director responded.

Forget being a creep at work, I think we can all agree the guy who doesn’t understand basic boundaries and makes everyone uncomfortable, man or woman, fucking sucks. Anyone who has worked in an office knows, just show up, do your work, and go home. No need to start bragging about how many beers you crushed or the pussy you’re chasing. If you have friends that you work with, you do that shit outside of the office on the weekend, not when everyone is just trying to survive their miserable 9-5. People who treat work like a social event can fucking kick rocks.

The main point of the blog though is to ask what the hell these guys are doing talking about hams and walnuts? Jesus Christ guys, can you be more lame. Red hams? What even is that? Are those tits, ass? If you’re going to get fired for sexually harassing people at work at least make it so we can read your texts and understand what the hell you’re talking about. This does nothing for me, zero, zilch. I need rated R shit, shit that entertains me, texts back from the woman that get me weirdly aroused, not some food used as  code words for body parts. Such a waste. Hey fellas, check out the hams on that one, what even is that?

PS

I don’t know why but this line made me laugh out loud.

Braggadocio about using out-of-town trips to transit conventions and other events as opportunities for “slacker time.”

Something about telling people you had slacker time makes you seem like a 16 year old skateboarder, listening to Blink 182 and smoking clove cigarettes. Great trip to Philly Convention guys, got to hang outside the mall and practice my ollies, bought a few stussy hats for my bruhs back home, only got hassled by the mall security once but he was a loser so I outran him.