So, next time you're in a job interview - and you get to the end of it, and the interviewer asks if you have any questions for him or her about the company - here's what you should probably think about asking: "What are your company's politics?" That might sound like an odd question - and maybe not the sort of impression you want to make in a job interview - but it could save you a lot of problems farther down the road. That's because - according to a group of commissioners on the Federal Election Commission - corporations - your employers - can force you to campaign for certain politicians - whether you like it or not. They can even fire you if you choose not to. In other words - a corporation can force you to spend your day phone-banking for - say, Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin. Or canvassing around the neighborhood for...I don't know...Michele Bachmann. Or standing on the side of the street with a sign telling people to vote for David Duke!
Now I know this sounds crazy. Don't we as employees have a right to be free from coercion in the workplace - especially when that coercion pertains to our personally held political beliefs? You would think so - but not anymore in this post-Citizens United world. Now - the rights of corporations - like the right to use their employees as cogs in their corporate political speech machine - trump your rights as an individual in the workplace - a corporations right to free speech has become more important than your right to free speech! According to FEC regulations and laws under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 - it is illegal for a corporation to force an employee to donate money or fundraise on behalf of a political candidate. But when a case came before the FEC recently of a union corporation forcing its employees to engage in other political activity that didn't involve donating or raising money - but instead phone-banking and canvassing - the FEC ruled that it's A-OK.
...
No comments:
Post a Comment