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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18998
[Civil]
Date Posted:
12/6/2007
9:02:33 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,273
RSS: 16,077
Comments: 11
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'Captive Speech' Legislation Has National Roots
Author: Walt Williams Source: State Journal (WV)
Title: 'CAPTIVE SPEECH' LEGISLATION HAS NATIONAL ROOTS
Employers would need to keep their political and religious views out of their dealings with employees under a proposed state law that will come before the 2008 Legislature.
The as-yet titled bill prohibits employers or their representatives from requiring employees to attend meetings where employers offer their opinions about religious or political matters. It also mandates that workers do not have to participate in communications with their employers to discuss religious or political positions.
The Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary endorsed the bill on voice vote last week and passed it with the recommendation that it be adopted by the Legislature.
"There are certain kinds of communication that some people hold very near and dear to their hearts.... Some people, like it or not, feel that certain things are not other people's business," Delegate Tim Miley, D-Harrison, chairman of the subcommittee that reviewed the bill, told the full committee.
"(Workers) shouldn't feel compelled by the threat of some retaliatory action to participate in discussions that make them feel very uncomfortable," he said.
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Community Thoughts: There are 11 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| GOOD! | Dec 7th. at 6:12:55 am EST
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me
as far as I am concerned, religion DOES NOT belong....
1. In Schools
2. In the workplace
3. on the streetcorner
SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!
Love to all
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| "Free Speech" Vs. "Captive Speech" | Dec 7th. at 2:17:04 am EST
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
Okay. So "Free Speech" is about the right to say what you want, when you want -- except for when what you say could very well harm those around you. "Captive Speech" is about having to listen to your boss' religious/political views, and if you don't happen to agree with those views you could very well lose your job.
Someone said that this is like college professors having a religious/political view, and testing their students on that view. Wrong, so very wrong -- unless those professors are basing the grade on whether a student agrees or disagrees with them on that view, not on how well-thought out the student's argument is. I know of extremely few college professors who REQUIRE their students agree with their personal religious/political views -- "Liberal" or "Conservative". Just another way to cause yet more division in this already too-divided nation, I suppose.........
Personally, I don't want to have to worry about whether what I believe is going to get me fired, or if what I DON"T believe is going to get me fired. If I want to vote Democrat, and the boss would rather I vote Republican -- I really don't want to have to find a new job before heading to the polls. And if I want to worship Cthulu, just what right does the boss have to require that I worship The Great Spaghetti Monster -- especially when I do NOT work in or for the Church of The Great Spaghetti Monster?
----nasionnaich
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| Yep, Right Here In Oregon | Dec 6th. at 11:14:48 pm EST
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
your union can take money out of your wages and use it to support the political party of their choice - or whatever they want and you can't say a word about it if you want to continue to work in a union job. There are all kinds of abuses, some worse than others - I guess we all have to choose which abuses we will tolerate and which we will fight.
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| Sounds Like It's Only One State | Dec 6th. at 7:18:31 pm EST
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Penny J Novack (Charlemont, Massachusetts) - Email Me
Frankly, I'd like to be able to say to my boss, "Ma'am, seeing as how church services are not part of the business I was hired to do, legally, I must respectfully decline." without risking being fired or at the least harrassed and kept at the bottom of the ladder.
Were you all aware that many places it doesn't matter what religion or political affiliation you hold, the boss can and does take money out of your wages to donate to his/her pet religion or political party?
This is not funny. Don't start on about how government is gettin in your business!! When business is used to be abusive and take citizen's rights away from them it's the business of government/law to jump their bones and tell them "NO WAY".
We do have rights. You giving yours up? I'm not -- not without a hell of a struggle. Some employers think we're all just a bunch of dirt under their feet -- that the working folk of this country have no rights. People like that will invade your life, attempt to enslave you and take all your freedoms just because you are trying to do honest work for honest wages. When somebody hires you ,that should never give them the right to do some of the things employers in many places think they have the right to do.
I say "go for it, Legislators of the nation!". Make it plain to these no-good traitors to the Spirit of our Nation that they can't treat their employees that way.
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| I Am Torn By This One | Dec 6th. at 6:28:11 pm EST
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
Much as I don't want my employer, teacher or union boss telling me who to vote for or what relgion to be, I also don't want the government controlling what can and cannot be said somewhere. I see the intrusion of big brother farther and farther into my life and it worries me considerably. On the other hand, having my job rest on voting for the union boss' candidate or having to be forced to listen to the owner's sermons and fear to lose my job if he finds out I am a pagan isn't too good either.
Talk about a tough decision. I think I fear my government more than my boss though, with the union leadership next in line (if I was in a union of course) . Hard to know which way to go on this one.
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| Great, Another Law For Everyone To Ignore. | Dec 6th. at 4:15:57 pm EST
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Badger Breaking Ground (Denton, Texas) - Email Me
Just like how getting berrated over the phone when you call in sick is technicaly harrasment, but no one says anything since rocking the boat is more trouble than it's worth. Of course I live in Texas, where "Workers' Rights" are really mostly a joke. My point of view is probably slighty off.
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| Good Idea | Dec 6th. at 2:27:47 pm EST
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Mar-Garet (Appalachia, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
I think this legislation is a good idea. I have worked in West Virginia. It is commonplace to start the day with a group-prayer in some places, and there are also meetings in which one must state their personal views about political or religious subjects. This can be very awkward. At a company Personnel Training Session, for instance, we were all made to state what our religion was. When I said "Wicca," there was much discussion about it!
At this same Training Session, we were also made to state our ethnic background. One woman said: "I don't have an ethnic background...I'm an American." Turns out her ancestors came from England. Go figure.
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| Captive Speech Leads To Wage Captivity. | Dec 6th. at 10:58:02 am EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Sounds like a couple of dissenters don't get out much.
I don't mind attending meetings as long as they have something concerning the work being done and the business at hand, but I don't see "Pep rallies," enforced memorized slogans, loyalty oaths, the boss's religious political leanings or religious get togethers, as part of business, unless I'm working for a sports team-or a church. Nor do I want to be censured for complaining about being either politically or religiously harassed for refusing to be converted to something I disagree with or forced to personally donate to causes I disagree with because the boss does.
To me, these things smack more of slavery than free enterprise. A way to control the workers in every way possible by tying their livelihoods to such ridiculous behavior.
I think these things should end. but I won't hold my breath.
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