Labor Attorneys Agree: The Adria Richards Firing Will Be Hard to Defend

[greatlaurel]

69. Classic divide and conquer management techniques on display

This is a classic example of divide and conquer the work force to make sure management gets to do what ever it wants to do. Wake the hell up people. I thought folks here were a little more astute than to fall for this nonsense.

Make sure to get two groups to argue over some titillating point that draws lots of attention, sex issues are perfect for distractions. (abortion, birth control, gay marriage, religion is also good thus all the nonsense about sharia law) In this case, the managers fired the person who complained and one of the persons she complained against. This gets men and women arguing over sexual politics while keeping everyone's attention from what is really going on with the industry. Is the company that fired Ms. Richards failing in a big way? Does the company that fired the guy also have some big problem that is now deeply hidden by the PR storm over the ridiculous way they handled the discipline of their employees. Good managers would never have fired anyone, a little training such as do not make crude jokes in the workplace and do not twitter about sexual harassment in the work place would suffice.

This story is,also, taking up a lot of media attention while not a peep is being said about what is happening with the whole issue of bringing in cheap immigrant tech workers to replace the more highly paid local tech workers during the immigration legislation negotiations going on in Congress.

Make light of the very real issue of work places that are unfriendly to women especially in the tech and hard sciences fields. It is really useful for management to allow women to be called names, made to feel uncomfortable and even allow subtle and not so subtle threats of violence to make sure they stay in their proper places. Management does not want women to try to work where they are not wanted so the "boys" can behave the way they want. It also helps to throw in a few "women" to criticize other women for being bitches when they complain about a work atmosphere that is designed to make women uncomfortable. "What a bitch, she can't take a joke." That is a quote from my old workplace. This again discourages women from these fields and gives management more leverage in complaining about the need to import tech workers, because there are not enough tech workers here in the states. It also helps to depress the wages for women in these fields by creating a hostile atmosphere between male and female workers. More divide and conquer.

Be sure to single out and viciously attack a lone woman. This will discourage other women from the field. It will also prevent the few women in the field from ever speaking out, eventually driving more women from the field and keeping wages lower for everyone, male and female.

We have to be smarter than corporations. It really is not very hard if you don't let yourself be distracted by your own personal prejudices.