The "no politics on the job argument"

[Bluesaph]

I keep hearing that the NFL is right to force players not to kneel for the anthem because they are the boss and the player is the employee and just like people can’t protest while on the job, neither can players. I would like to start a discussion about how to challenge this argument. For starters:

1. NFL players are not at will employees. They have contracts for performance. Kneeling for the anthem has nothing to do with performance.

Please add. Thanks.

[NCTraveler]

1. There is no challenge to it outside of the thought that....

The government influenced the NFL in their decision. I have a feeling the NFL was only looking at their fan base. Still, their fan base has been all worked up by Trump and the rest of his morons.

That said, there is no real challenge.

Fuck Trump. Art of the Squeal.

[Snackshack]

2. At my job...

I come into work, go to my lab and start doing my experiments. I don’t have to stop at some point and stand at attention for the national anthem and a fly over by military jets. Plus the NFL has not always done this. It wasn’t until the military started to pay the NFL for this show of patriotism...which puts an entirely different light on this.


https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nfl-sideline-anthem/

[world wide wally]

3. Seems like they would be subcontractors more than employees

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. The thinking that employers essentially "own" their employees

needs to be rejected, especially in this situation. I don't like the idea that employers can have access to the social media accounts of their employees and can discipline and/or terminate them for off-duty pictures/behaviors/expression of political beliefs. I don't agree with the idea that all employers can make random drug testing a condition of employment unless it appears to be a safety issue with the type of job or is believed to be adversely affecting job performance. I definitely don't agree with what the NFL is doing here either. Taking a knee as a form of protest during the National Anthem is not disrupting anybody or anything and if some fans want to get their shorts up in a bunch over it, that's their problem.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. There is very much a "slave" mentality in the NFL...

Their "union" is the weakest one in pro sports and they have never been able to sustain a strike. Think about the "drafting" and "trading" of the players. They have little to no say in these activities even though they affect their lives in MAJOR ways.
No, they don't have to do it....they have to choice to quit, but why the fuck should you have to quit your job because the work conditions are atrocious?

[MichMan]

7. I agree with what you are saying about social media

However, it cuts both ways

Many here were cheering when people who posted in social media about attending the Charlottesville Nazi rally, displayed confederate flags or made racial comments were terminated by their employers

If one really believes that what people do off the job is protected, one must also accept that it is going to apply to social media posts that we may personally find reprehensible

Since the NFL protests are occuring while they are at the game, what I wrote above really isn't applicable.

http://www.toledoblade.com/Nation/2015/10/08/Man-out-at-Bob-Evans-factory-over-Confederate-flag.html


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/more-nazis-are-getting-identified-and-fired-after-charlottesville_us_599477dbe4b0eef7ad2c0318

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. I wasn't thinking about Nazis

but you have a good point

[Bluesaph]

9. Good point.

It goes both ways.

[MichMan]

5. Players can fined or suspended for a variety of transgressions

can't they? Including many things that occur off the field as well