Kerry hired woman fired for having Kerry bumpersticker on car

[donsu]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2106714/

(the last paragraph should be the first - sorry)
-snip-
The story was picked up by Daily Kos, a political Web log, and spread quickly around the Web. By this morning, Geddes, who has declined to comment publicly on the matter, had apparently had enough of the bad publicity. Through an intermediary, he offered Gobbell an apology and said she could have her old job back. But Gobbell said she wouldn't return without some written guarantee that Geddes wouldn't turn around and fire her once he was out of the spotlight. Then, late this afternoon, Kerry himself phoned Gobbell. "He was telling me how proud he was that I stood up," Gobbell told me. "He'd read the part where Phil said I could either work for him or work for John Kerry. He said, 'you let him know you're working for me as of today.' I was just so shocked."

Gobbell accepted Kerry's job offer, "so I reckon I'll be working for John Kerry." Kerry left it that someone from his campaign would call Gobbell to work out the details. Let's hope there's quick follow-through (I'll be checking!), because Gobbell told me she couldn't wait to tell Geddes that she had a better offer.
-snip-
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The same is true of Lynne Gobbell of Moulton, Ala., who on Sept. 9 was fired from her job at Enviromate, a company that makes housing insulation, for driving to work with a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker in the rear windshield of her Chevy Lumina. The person who did the firing was Phil Geddes, who owns the company and is an enthusiastic Bush supporter. (Although Gobbell hasn't done any proselytizing for Kerry at Enviromate, Geddes distributed a flyer to all Enviromate employees explaining why they should vote for Bush.) Here is how Gobbell related her story to Clyde Stancil of the Decatur Daily News:

-snip-

[vi5]

1. You know, if this situation were reversed...

It would be getting 10,000,000,000,000 times more play in the media and on every talk show than it's getting with Kerry being the hero.

[Branjor]

2. Isn't that the truth...

:mad:

[LiberalVoice]

3. Now thats the man I want for president.

He's already getting people new jobs! I really hope they play it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. There was no reason for this woman to lose her job

I think this is the perfect time for SOMEONE from the Kerry camp to ORGANIZE the opposition in Alabama

[pretzel4gore]

5. :) what else can anyone say?

:) kerry's a good guy

[BattyDem]

6. I'm glad Kerry was made aware of the situation ...

and did something about it. He's a good guy. :-)

One thing I was surprised to read in the Slate article: firing someone for their political beliefs is not against the law. How can that be???

Basically, the owner of the company tried to blackmail Lynne Gobbell in order to get her to stop supporting John Kerry. He said, "Remove the Kerry sticker or you're fired."

On top of that, the guy passed out Bush literature to the employees. Let's face it ... that's a bit intimidating when it comes from the boss because you can't help but wonder if he's implying, "Vote Bush or else". Any person would feel threatened, especially after learning that Gobbell was fired. Supporting Kerry = no job! The man is using his position of power to influence how people vote. How is that not election tampering?!? True, the argument could be made that he didn't tell her not to vote for Kerry, he simply told her to remove the sticker, but let's get real - if your boss freaks out over a sticker, wouldn't you be worried that he would fire you if he found out that you donated to Kerry's campaign or voted for him? Wouldn't that make you feel like you had to either vote for Bush or not vote at all?

There are huge corporations that employ thousands of people. What's to stop them from threatening to fire people if they don't support Bush? If they did that in a swing state, they could actually have an effect on the outcome of the election. How is that not election tampering?!?

What's next? Will employers be able to force you to practice a certain religion? Or marry a certain kind of person? Or live your life a certain way? Or practice a cerain ideology?

Non-Christian = no job!
Interracial marriage = no job!
Engaging in pre-marital sex = no job!
Taking birth control = no job!
Believing in evolution = no job!

:wtf:

Sorry I rambled on, but I am literally shocked to learn that you can be fired for supporting a Presidential candidate other than the one your boss supports! How is that possible in America? :grr: