Union Member Fired for Aircraft Carrier Shirt.

[Coito ergo sum]

A union stage hand was fired for refusing to take off a shirt bearing the name of a United States aircraft carrier at an Obama rally....

http://blogs.ktla.com/news_custom_eric/ ... rally.html

(aircraft carrier was named the George H.W. Bush - his son serves on the ship...)

Poor fella...maybe Juan Williams will hire him.

....there is nothing more American than dissent....it is patriotic to express contrary opinions....but you'll get fired for making a non-political statement by wearing a USS George HW Bush shirt during an Obama rally.....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So, who fired him? Obama, or some guy who didn't want to lose his venue income in the future?

[drl2]

Sounds like it was an over-reaction by some union middle manager. Considering tea party types have shown up outside Obama rallies carrying loaded automatic weapons and not been turned away, I doubt this was a presidential decision.

[JimC]

Slightly misleading thread title; it was clearly the Bush name, rather than any naval-oriented imagery that caused the sacking...

Which of course was over the top, but not really surprising...

[Trolldor]

If there was greater protection of worker's rights, and thus heavier regulation for the market, this wouldn't have happened.

[Coito ergo sum]

So, who fired him? Obama, or some guy who didn't want to lose his venue income in the future?

His boss.

[Coito ergo sum]

Slightly misleading thread title; it was clearly the Bush name, rather than any naval-oriented imagery that caused the sacking...

Which of course was over the top, but not really surprising...

I was trying to be as neutral as possible. Had I said "union member fired for George Bush shirt," I'd have been accused of being misleading, I'm sure.
Frankly, however, the title is not in the least misleading - it is quite literally accurate. A union member was fired for wearing an aircraft carrier shirt. The character limit for titles somewhat restricts the number of qualifiers and explanatory terms that can be included.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So, who fired him? Obama, or some guy who didn't want to lose his venue income in the future?

His boss.

And do we know what the boss said about this? Like maybe, "Are you just trying to be a jerk?"

[Clinton Huxley]

I thought hire 'em and fire 'em was the American way? Labour laws are for Commies.....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I thought hire 'em and fire 'em was the American way? Labour laws are for Commies.....

Let's ask that lady that's been in labor eighteen times?

[Coito ergo sum]

So, who fired him? Obama, or some guy who didn't want to lose his venue income in the future?

His boss.

And do we know what the boss said about this? Like maybe, "Are you just trying to be a jerk?"

Being a jerk by wearing a t-shirt that refers to the George HW Bush Aircraft Carrier, on which his son serves?

That didn't go over well with his union supervisor. Hammond says he was told to take off the sweatshirt, or he would have to go home.
He refused. They told him he was fired from the job.

***UPDATE: Duane Hammond says union officials called him this afternoon to apologize for the incident. He say they are "bending over backwards" to make it up to him.

[Clinton Huxley]

I thought hire 'em and fire 'em was the American way? Labour laws are for Commies.....

Let's ask that lady that's been in labor eighteen times?

I expect she is busy...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So, who fired him? Obama, or some guy who didn't want to lose his venue income in the future?

His boss.

And do we know what the boss said about this? Like maybe, "Are you just trying to be a jerk?"

Being a jerk by wearing a t-shirt that refers to the George HW Bush Aircraft Carrier, on which his son serves?

That didn't go over well with his union supervisor. Hammond says he was told to take off the sweatshirt, or he would have to go home.
He refused. They told him he was fired from the job.

***UPDATE: Duane Hammond says union officials called him this afternoon to apologize for the incident. He say they are "bending over backwards" to make it up to him.

You presume he's not being a jerk just because his son serves on that ship? Why?

[Coito ergo sum]

I thought hire 'em and fire 'em was the American way? Labour laws are for Commies.....

?

Not sure where you get that.

The general rule is that an employer or an employee may terminate the employment relationship at will, except if there is an illegal reason for the termination. There are no illegal reasons for an employee to quit his job, although if he has a contract he may be liable for breach of contract depending on the terms. An employer, however, is quite constrained in her ability to fire an employee - employees may not be terminated on account race, color, creed/religion/atheism/agnosticism/lack of belief, national origin, disability, veteran's status or service in the uniformed services, sex, in some places sexual orientation, pregnancy, sex stereotyping, age, serving on a jury, making a claim for workers compensation, in retaliation for reporting an employer's violation of the law, in retaliation for participating in an employment investigation of unlawful activity, in retaliation for making a claim with the EEOC or a State fair employment agency, in retaliation for taking Family and Medical Leave (or failing to allow someone to return to work after Family and Medical Leave), failing to reinstate a member of the military under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act..... and the list goes on and on. Sexual and other bias-based harassment is prohibited. We have the National Labor Relations Act and National Labor Relations Board protecting unions and the right of workers to unionize.

The US has plenty of recourse here for unfair terminations - lawsuits against employers are quite common. And, we have an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at the Federal level and 50 separate State equivalents if someone prefers to pursue state law fair employment claims.

[Feck]

Typical stupid story ,not really a story actually ...Jerks gets himself fired Press write up story with considerable bias invoking nationalism and pride in the good old US armed forces as yet another story to promote anti-Obama feelings .

can we please have more parody threads to lift the tone of the forum