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Google Urged the US To Limit Protection for Activist Workers (bloomberg.com)
Google, whose employees have captured international attention in recent months through high-profile protests of workplace policies, has been quietly urging the U.S. government to narrow legal protection for workers organizing online. From a report: During the Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board broadened employees' rights to use their workplace email system to organize around issues on the job. In a 2014 case, Purple Communications, the agency restricted companies from punishing employees for using their workplace email systems for activities like circulating petitions or fomenting walkouts, as well as trying to form a union. In filings in May 2017 and November 2018, obtained via Freedom of Information Act request, Alphabet's Google urged the National Labor Relations Board to undo that precedent.
Citing dissents authored by Republican appointees, Google's attorneys wrote that the 2014 standard "should be overruled" and a George W. Bush-era precedent -- allowing companies to ban organizing on their employee email systems -- should be reinstated. In an emailed statement, a Google spokeswoman said, "We're not lobbying for changes to any rules." Rather, she said, Google's claim that the Obama-era protections should be overturned was "a legal defense that we included as one of many possible defenses" against meritless claims at the NLRB.
Citing dissents authored by Republican appointees, Google's attorneys wrote that the 2014 standard "should be overruled" and a George W. Bush-era precedent -- allowing companies to ban organizing on their employee email systems -- should be reinstated. In an emailed statement, a Google spokeswoman said, "We're not lobbying for changes to any rules." Rather, she said, Google's claim that the Obama-era protections should be overturned was "a legal defense that we included as one of many possible defenses" against meritless claims at the NLRB.
This is one reason why. Among many.
Corporatism != Free Market
Hey, if you want to organize protests, etc....do it on your own time, or at the very least, do it on your own private email, etc.
I mean, why should a company essentially pay you to protest them or let you use their facilities and servers to promote things that are against the best interests of the company or it's shareholders (you know, the folks that own the company)?
Sure you have the right to protest me or oppose me, but I shouldn't have to foot the bill for you too should I?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I want insurance and healthcare completely disconnected from employment. I don't get my homeowners or car insurance via my employer and neither should health insurance.
I hate fat people.
I agree whole heartedly on this one.
I also think that they should open it up for medical insurance sales across state lines.
Competition there might help things a good bit.
I'd also like to see the govt. PROMOTE and make it easier to set up individual HSA's (Health Savings Accounts) that people can use to save pre-tax for their routine medical needs....or to even pay for individual insurance, etc. Rather than try to inhibit this as the Obama regime did, it should be opened up and promoted to make it easier for people to do.
HSA's, unlike FSA's are not use it or lose it either, you can put these accounts together to grow over time and even earn interest on them, etc.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I mean, why should a company essentially pay you to protest them or let you use their facilities and servers to promote things that are against the best interests of the company or it's shareholders (you know, the folks that own the company)?
Because it works.
I come from a country with strong employee protection laws, including the right to organize inside the company, and even laws regulating how to organise, how to elect representatives to speak for the employees, and rights and protections for those representatives, including extensive use of company facilities and even money to pay for what they need (training, lawyers, etc.)
The result is much more peace within the workplace, because there are accepted ways to bring your grievances to the attention of management. There are ways to force management if they don't comply with the law, without going to an external court and putting all the internal dirt into public.
It may not be perfect, but even most companies agree that it beats being hit by multi-million dollar lawsuits every few years.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org