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Ohio McDonald’s To Employees “Vote Republican If You Want Raises”

Via ThinkProgress

Yes, this really does happen in America.

Owners of a Canton, Ohio McDonald’s franchise had a surprise in their employee’s paycheck envelopes recently.  Employees found the following letter , on company letterhead, stuffed inside the envelopes with their paychecks:

mcdonalds republicansThe letter states that “who you vote for is your personal decision”, but also goes on to state “if the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels. If others are elected we will not”.  It then endorses three Republicans as those who can “help (our) business move forward.”

This is a direct violation of Ohio law, which states:

No employer or his agent or a corporation shall print or authorize to be printed upon any pay envelopes any statements intended or calculated to influence the political action of his or its employees; or post or exhibit in the establishment or anywhere in or about the establishment any posters, placards, or hand bills containing any threat, notice, or information that if any particular candidate is elected or defeated work in the establishment will cease in whole or in part, or other threats expressed or implied, intended to influence the political opinions or votes of his or its employees.

Seriously?

Updated: October 29, 2010 at 10:22 am
Tags: , , , , , , ,
  • http://simuleustisetpecator.wordpress.com Craig

    This (and the bad food) is why I don’t eat at McDonald’s.

  • Pingback: Christian_Salafia

  • mickey

    “Vote Republican if you Want Raises”

    In QUOTES. Really? The word republican isnt mentioned once in the letter.

    The fact is that lots of companies do this, and often times its at employee request.

    The most liberal lawyer in the country wouldnt touch this case with a 10 foot pole even if heard on the 9th circuit….or at least he wouldnt do so with any hope or intent of winning the case.

    Its perfectly reasonable for a company to voice its opinion to employees on what it feels will help or hurt the company- and as long as it stops right there, its all good. Voting IS a personal choice, and nothing in that letter says otherwise. The letter is not a threat. Its the truth, as McDonalds sees the truth. If anyone uses that info to make their selection then fine. If they dont, thats fine too.

    The funniest part about the whole thing is that you seem to think that the workforce as a whole at McDonalds cares who is elected (well, other than Obama, anyway). You actually seem to believe that more than 10-15% of this workforce will even vote. Obama isnt on the ticket…they’ll be at home Tuesday.

    Not to hijack, but while I’m here, heres an article I think you should post and comment on. Its about Democrats spending their money promoting Libertarians.
    My favorite part of it is here……….

    “The Democrats are obviously hoping to turn Republican voters into Libertarians. Their trick might turn out to be our treat. If the Republicans are smart, they might try a similar tactic. For example, Republicans could inform liberal voters that Libertarians want to end foreign wars and close foreign military bases; end the War on Drugs; reform immigration policy to make legal immigration easier; and we want the government to show equal treatment to homosexuals. Maybe Democrats and Republicans could have a contest to see who can promote Libertarians the most.”

    http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/democrats-go-trick-or-treating-as-libertarians

    • http://homebrewedtheology.com Christian

      Ok,

      #1 – What this owner did is illegal. They cannot, in Ohio, put stuff like that in employee’s paycheck envelopes.
      #2 – Every candidate on that sheet is republican. The message is clear.
      #3 – The words “If the right people are elected, we will be able to continue with raises and benefits. If others are elected, we will not” is, again, influencing their worker’s votes and, again, illegal.
      #4 – Again, the words “These are the candidates we believe will help our business move forward”, then listing 3 Republicans, is a continuation of point #3, and means “Vote for these guys and you’ll get raises.”

      It doesn’t matter what percent of the workforce cares, or even votes, honestly. This is an illegal attempt to influence an election by using the threat of taking away wages and benefits if their workforce doesn’t vote a certain way.

      I’ll check into the link you gave me….got one on the one democrat sending out stuff to GOPers saying to support the Libertarian in the works.

  • mickey

    So which is the greater issue in your opinion? The letter itself? or the fact that it was issued in the state of Ohio?

    As I see it theres a little bit of poetic justice here. Even though I know better, I often let you slide with little comments about it not being about republican vs democrat, and thats its about doing whats right.

    If it were REALLY about doing whats right, you’d be glad McDonalds is doing this. Couldnt a McDonalds employee be the poster child for the type of people you claim to be “Standing up” for? The ones who bust their butts all day for minimum wage and who will be perpetually “poor”- these are your people, right? Or is it the ones who dont work at all? Arent these the very people you say DESERVE good health insurance? Do you not think McDonalds knows better than you do about what certain legislation will do their business and to their ability to provide certain benefits?

    Whats happening here is that pride is clouding your judgement. For months and months you wrote about how great this new health care bill was gonna be even though you had no clue what was in it. Now the pill seems to be a bit too bitter for you to swallow that you were wrong. I’m sure its just McDonalds being greedy, right? No way this wonderful healthcare bill could turn out to hurt more people than it helps.

    Like I told you before, Christian…dont sweat this stuff. You’ve already “won” and you still seem to be having a hard time with it. This bill is doing exactly what your elected politicians KNEW it would do. Its only a matter of time before we all have equal health insurance provided by the govt. So rest easy. Its just a matter of time.

  • mickey

    Something tells me you werent gonna be following up on the original article with the following link….

    http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/251906/harrahs-bosses-put-squeeze-employees-vote-pro-reid-effort-elizabeth-crum

    This is why you shouldnt bother complaining about stupid petty BS like this. Its ALWAYS gonna come back and make you look hypocritical…..and possibly worse than hypocritical when your “team” is doing the same thing, only WORSE. And theres no denying that this Harrahs thing is worse. Labor unions are the scum of the earth with the exception of maybe a dozen industries in this country- and I guarantee casino workers arent one of those industries.

    • http://homebrewedtheology.com Christian

      I read the email chain and there isn’t anything to suggest that they’re “putting the squeeze” on employees. There’s no threats, implied or otherwise, no intimidation to vote one way or another, and no vote counting aside from finding out who voted and who didn’t.

      To suggest this is the same as the McDonalds letter, which was an implied threat and voter intimidation, is, quite honestly, asinine.

      In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Angle’s campaign is running a similar GOTV operation for Casino employees. In fact, I’d guarantee it.

  • mickey

    “In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Angle’s campaign is running a similar GOTV operation for Casino employees. In fact, I’d guarantee it.”

    Define SIMILAR. If she is doing that then she is equally wrong in doing so….go ahead and show me the comparable efforts made by Angle though. I’ll check it out.

    So, theres direct pressure on Harrahs upper mgmt from Reid. Then theres direct pressure on Harrahs middle mgmt from the upper mgmt. Then theres admitted discomfort by middle mgmt in hounding employees about voting, while carrying clipboards writing the names of who didnt vote and noting the reason why as well. Then, when employees arrive at the polling place, there are union thugs lined up outside.
    No, I”m not suggesting at all that it is the same as what McDonalds did…..Its about 10X worse.

    I’m sure it was all legit though. When seeing things through union goony goggles I suppose all this would seem quite normal.

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