This has gotta be illegal

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/koch ... ction.html

Telling employees they could be laid off if they don't vote a certain way? Firing people if they say anything critical about a compnay on Facebook? Sounds more like a cult than a corporation.

Granted if the Kochs were pro-Obama, and were threatening to lay off people if Romney were elected, the issue would be same.

Koch Industries might as well be called Cruise-Miscavige Industries.

Nope, not illegal in the US. It used to be, but this was overturned by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case. As I understand it, the Citizens United ruling established that corporations are just like people for the purposes of free speech. A person is allowed to attempt to politically influence others, so a corporation is also allowed to.

When Obama gets reelected, let's see the Koch bros fire all their employees. I sincerely hope the workers know this is an empty threat.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

They will not fire all of their employees on November 7th if Obama wins. What they will do is start the process of cutting benefits and laying off a couple here and there. They will also replace those who are naturally lost to retirement, death, or moving on to another company.

In any case, this is legal because the employee still has a choice (including the choice of working for this particular employer).

A little sleazy being presented to underlings in the workplace, but I don't read it as a direct threat to their jobs. It's a vague scare tactic being used by both parties (if you elect this guy, then Economic Armageddon will befall the country). As I understand it, the President has limited control of the economy so layoffs blamed on the possible reelection of Obama is just a convenient excuse for what would happen anyway.

What it comes down to is rich folks threatening to sit on their money and starve the proles if they don't get their way.

This is why they need to be taxed at a higher rate....

Tax the idle money of the "job creators" at about 90%, but give them huge tax breaks for ACTUALLY creating quality jobs.

Either way we get money back into the economy. It's the only way to get out of recession.

PS

I'll make a prediction.... If Obama does win, congressional Republicans will force the government off the "fiscal cliff" as punishment....

Wait and see.

Welcome to the world of scare tactics in the age of 'Corporate Personhood'. As far as the Facebook BS is concerned, if I ever get hired by a company that 'requires that emloyees freind the company' that's fine with me, as I have no issues with setting up an account on site that don't use, and I have no interest in anyways in order to stay employed by them.

Firing employees for how they vote is illegal in a lot of states (I'm not sure if it's protected federally) and wouldn't go over well with a civil jury. If a company fears that it would not be able to do business much longer with certain people in power, that is a piece of information employees might want to hear and evaluate.

In California, it's illegal for a company to require access to your social network information and other states are passing similar laws.

Sigh. This is why I'm glad that I live in Canada.

I mean, here it is perfectly legal to terminate someones employment because of their statements on Facebook or social networking if the statement is (slanderous) enough, but not based off of the way that someone votes, considering that that is a personal freedom.

How would this be a threat if we have a secret ballot. What an employer might say is: If Obama wins in November I am shutting the business down and you will all be let go. That is not illegal.

ruveyn

Agreed, the businessman in question has made a pretty legitimate case concerning the destructive policies of the Obama Administration and idiotic red tape, and is not going to go bankrupt and have his business go under anyways, so he'll cut his losses and shut down his business.

C'mon, you know as well as I do, he's trying to bully his workers into voting how he wants, secret ballot or not.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

IOW, its mr. moneybag's way or the highway. i suppose this is what an uncorrected tantrum-throwing brat does when his body grows to adulthood and he happens to have gotten lucky in business, he grows too big for his britches and threatens to blow the game for everybody if he can't have all the marbles.

auntblabby, consider the possibility that he is telling the truth and making an accurate assessment of Obama's policies for a second. If that is his honest assessment, and a case can be made to back up what he is saying, then isn't what you are saying completely out of line...

One reason why I have very little respect for liberals in general is cause I consider the class war BS to be extremely dishonest and designed to pit one American against another American.

How would anyone know how the worker voted? We have a secret ballot.

All the employer would know, as would any one else, is who won the election.

ruveyn