4 ms·
That isn't very Google-y of them! Where can we report the cultural violation? /me laughs Seriously though: > “What we have here is a protest that does not
by jaytaylor 5y ago
That isn't very Google-y of them!
Where can we report the cultural violation?
/me laughs
Seriously though:
> “What we have here is a protest that does not seek to improve employees’ terms and conditions of employment,” but rather “a purely political protest that sought to use Google’s government contracts, or potential government contracts, as leverage,” he said.
> Google violated the law “to discourage employees from engaging in” legally-protected activism, according to a July complaint issued by labor board prosecutors.
How hard will the Labor Board fight to protect employee political speech? It seems like a different level of concern compared to pursuing reasonable working conditions for workers.
- perl4ever 5y agoWhere the hell does it say Google or any employer has the right to make up exclusions to the right to organize? Protecting employee interests is a basic right, and if the employer could define the set of valid interests, it would completely negate all protections. Quoting from the law that I believe this is based on: "RIGHTS OF EMPLOYEES Sec. 7. [§ 157.] Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection..." https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materials/national-labor-relations-act https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materials/nation...
- dekhn 5y agoAre you suggesting that, with the existence of these laws, Google is not allowed to prevent employees from spiking business deals? I don't think that's how that law works, although it's not well tested in this scenario. Unless the employees could articulate a specific harm, judicial system will not be sympathetic to them.
- TheCoelacanth 5y agoGoogle is not allowed to prevent employees from organizing with each other and from collectively bargaining with Google, regardless of whether that ends up preventing business deals. Making a business deal is not an excuse for breaking the law.
- dekhn 5y agoI honestly don't think that this conclusion is a reasonable one. I understand why people think so, but if you violate your Google employment contract, they can fire you. And at that point, if you filed a lawsuit, the legal system is not going to suddenly side with worker's rights over the rights of corporations to make business deals.
- perl4ever 5y agoWe do agree that shareholders, who supposedly own the company in some sense, can definitely express their opinions freely, cajole or threaten the directors and officers of the company, and directly or indirectly "spike business deals", right? And if some activist investor(s) were threatened with having their stock taken away because they were causing trouble, that would not just happen, there would be instant legal warfare which the entrenched interests might well lose, right? Assuming everybody takes all that for granted, why would it be unreasonable for workers to have the right to do similar stuff without being fired? Especially if the damn law says they do.
- TheCoelacanth 5y agoGoogle is not allowed to make employment contracts that violate labor laws. Workers have a right to organize with each other and collectively bargain and to not be fired for doing so.
- dekhn 5y agoNobody is arguing that law doesn't exist. That right does not allow employees to affect business deals. i don't understand where people get the idea it does. IIUC this is still untested in court, but it seems extremely unlikely that courts would conclude that labor laws permit employees to kill deals they don't like. If that was the case there would be massive implications across the industry and it just doesn't jibe with basic understanding of how business in america works.