The tail should not wag the dog

[mrblaine]

Saw on the news this morning that employees of Wayfair are going to walk off the job in protest to a TX company purchasing beds to supply to border facilities. They are protesting a company "profiting off of the border crisis".

I sent a note to my account rep and explained that companies need to stay out of politics and if they actually do walk off the job, we are done. I will never spend another dime with Wayfair, its affiliates and or subsidiaries. I purposely ignore the less than in your face politics of companies, but if you want to open that door, I'm pleased to step through it.

It is hypocritical to protest another company making profit while employed at a company that is in business to make a profit.

If you don't like your employer's policies, find another job.

 

[Chris]

Totally agreed.

Their employer should be firm with them as well and simply tell them that if you don't like your job, you can find a new one.

I'm getting very, very tired these days of companies (or in this case, their employees) getting into politics.

 

[Sundowner]

I'm all about people exercising their freedom to do whatever they like, but I also see more than a bit of hypocrisy in that particular action. The supplier is there to make money, and they're free to be as political as they like; the purchaser is doing likewise. From that angle, the walkout seems little more than "I'm taking my ball and going home" in response to a disagreement in belief and propriety.

 

[Paul Ruggles]

I think people forget when you go to "work" you are supposed to work. I give you 8 hrs a day, you pay me for 8 hrs work. It's pretty simple really. I dont owe my employer shit and they dont owe me shit either. Do the best you can and do the job you are paid to do. Walk out for some stupid activist bullshit, dont come back. Your toolbox will be in the parking lot waiting for you.

People are such pussies now. Imagine if it was 1941 with the attitude people have now. We would be speaking German with a Japanese accent. By the way, I have nothing against the Germans or Japanese. All it takes is a leader who can talk shit and make it seem ok, next thing you know you are at war.

Kinda off track, but yea, dont walk off your job and wonder why there is no job to go back to.

 

[Bababooey]

Jobs are a privilege, not a right. If they walk out, I hope they aren’t allowed to walk back in.

 

[pagrey]

I sent a note to my account rep and explained that companies need to stay out of politics and if they actually do walk off the job, we are done. I will never spend another dime with Wayfair, its affiliates and or subsidiaries. I purposely ignore the less than in your face politics of companies, but if you want to open that door, I'm pleased to step through it.

It is hypocritical to protest another company making profit while employed at a company that is in business to make a profit.

So you are going to stop using this company for political reasons? How does that make sense, you either keep politics out of business or you don't. If they raise prices then I could understand but yes you are being totally hypocritical making business decisions based on politics because another company has employees making decisions based on politics.

 

[Sundowner]

So you are going to stop using this company for political reasons? How does that make sense, you either keep politics out of business or you don't. If they raise prices then I could understand but yes you are being totally hypocritical making business decisions based on politics because another company has employees making decisions based on politics.

That wasn't my read of the objection. From what he said, he's ceasing business relations with the vendor pending a walk-off on the part of the employees; at no time were any political ideologies expressed. Rather, it's about employee actions and that effect on business, and it has nothing to do with what anyone believes (although that may be the motivating factor). Blaine, correct me if I've misunderstood you.

 

[Sancho]

Do they not want illegals sleeping on beds?

 

[pagrey]

That wasn't my read of the objection. From what he said, he's ceasing business relations with the vendor pending a walk-off on the part of the employees; at no time were any political ideologies expressed.

He was discussing selecting his business partner based on how they run their company and their employees rather than based on product and cost. That is a decision based on politics, it isn't based on business. I see saying that you don't think employees should strike as a political ideology.

 

[pagrey]

I always figured worker protections, the right to form unions were things that made us a better place when compared to China and other places. Funny how times change. Now it's whatever the boss says is rule and if the workers don't like it they can find a job somewhere else. How did this happen? Unions and worker protections make a middle class and when they disappear so does the middle class.

If you don't like your employer's policies, find another job.

This quote is exactly what leads to pretty much every example of worker exploitation in history. It's always in the bosses best business interests for you to be poor and powerless.

 

[g.hayduke]

It seems like there are competing priorities involved in the walkout. On the 1 hand, the strikers don't want to enable the concentration camps or whatever term you prefer for them. On the other hand, if the government can't purchase bedding, then the kids continue to sleep on the ground as seen in some detention "facilities". I assume the strikers don't want that outcome.

It's not like the detainees will be released if they can't buy beds for them. They'll just be forced to continue living in inhumane conditions.

So to me, it seems that the goal of the strikers are in conflict with their ostensibly humane motivations. If they sell the government beds, at least some of the people won't have to continue sleeping on the ground.

 

[Sancho]

Unions are not all good, nor all bad. They do improve quality of life for the employee..

But they also squelch innovation, productivity, and growth.

Good and bad, just depends on the stage the industry is in... unions made a positive impact in developing industrialized economies...

As the standards improve, the unions contribution diminishes, making the corruption and abuse stand out.

 

[Mr. Bills]

Lest we forget, the sole purpose of a corporation is to provide a return on investment to its shareholders. It is certainly not to make the world a "better place," to protect the moral fabric of society, or to refrain from offending the sensibilities of AOC and her ilk.

Any corporate board member or executive who forgets this and bases his or her business decisions on personal values rather than making money for the corporation's shareholders deserves to be removed.

 

[pagrey]

Lest we forget, the sole purpose of a corporation is to provide a return on investment to its shareholders. It is certainly not to make the world a "better place" or to protect the moral fabric of society in order to satisfy AOC and her ilk.

Any corporate board member or executive who forgets this and bases his or her business decisions on personal values rather than making money for the corporation's shareholders deserves to be removed.

I'd like to think we have more purpose and responsibility in life than making a buck, we aren't machines. Any corporate board member that forgets that I'd say should be removed. Obviously just my opinion.

 

[S.McArthur]

They are walking out in support of a political ideology, not due to poor/sub-standard working conditions; big difference. Their job is to supply furniture to a consumer, it's literally in their mission statement, the employees understand this when they apply/accept the position.
This "protest" is personal opinions of a group of people whom just happen to work at the same company and should not be allowed on company time.

 

[Sundowner]

He was discussing selecting his business partner based on how they run their company and their employees rather than based on product and cost. That is a decision based on politics, it isn't based on business.

I disagree. How you run your business and manage your employees is just as much a part of business as both production and cost. Politics has nothing to do with any of that, inherently. Can it be brought to bear on any of those factors? Sure it can...but so can anything else; there's no inherent link, however.

I see saying that you don't think employees should strike as a political ideology.

Okay, that's fine...but an ideology is an opinion, and not a fact.

 

[Mr. Bills]

I'd like to think we have more purpose and responsibility in life than making a buck, we aren't machines. Any corporate board member that forgets that I'd say should be removed. Obviously just my opinion.

We should have purpose beyond making a buck. That's what time off the job is for. Or one can choose a job/profession/avocation that has a purpose more "worthy" than making a profit.

None of this alters the basic purpose of a corporation which is to make money for its shareholders. If the employees don't like how the company does business they can work someplace else. They aren't slaves; they have the choice. The choice employees don't have, if they want to remain employees, is to interfere with the company's business or hurt the bottom line.

 

[pagrey]

They aren't slaves; they have the choice. The choice employees don't have, if they want to remain employees, is to interfere with the company's business or hurt the bottom line.

I get what you are saying but workers do have this choice. They have the right to organize and make demands and hurt the bottom line, even push the company out of business. That's the law here until people change it.

 

[B252]

I always figured worker protections, the right to form unions were things that made us a better place when compared to China and other places. Funny how times change. Now it's whatever the boss says is rule and if the workers don't like it they can find a job somewhere else. How did this happen? Unions and worker protections make a middle class and when they disappear so does the middle class.


This quote is exactly what leads to pretty much every example of worker exploitation in history. It's always in the bosses best business interests for you to be poor and powerless.

Then start your own business.

 

[pagrey]

Then start your own business.

You don't seem to understand, if I am an independent contractor, employ tens of thousands of workers or have a small business with a few workers, even if I am just a worker I still have to follow the law as it stands. And as it stands workers have rights.

You don't like it, change the law and stop whining. You get how you are the one complaining about how the law is now right?