Posted on 08/11/2004 4:23:21 PM PDT by SHOOKS22
Train Conductor Suspended for Kerry Quip
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - An Amtrak conductor has been suspended without pay for telling his train passengers that they should vote against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Your link is bad.
Get this man a job on the Bush/Cheney Express
My apologies. Try this one on for size...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040811/ap_on_re_us/kerry_amtrak
Right. And suspending a guy for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech DOESN'T cause embarrassment to the corporation or loss of good will with their passengers?
He deserved it.
Sue the Amtrack 'rats blind!
And suspending a guy for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech DOESN'T cause embarrassment to the corporation or loss of good will with their passengers?
Hmm. Normally, firing someone for a quip like this wouldn't be a violation of hist first amendment rights. However, since this is Amtrack, the employer is the gummint...
It cost BIG money to run a private train on the rails these days. But, with Terayza's money to pay for it, Kerry can afford to put the lesser well known passengerson the other train more behind schedule. He doesn't care.
Yep... sounds like Kerry.
Yep... sounds like Kerry.
I believe that was the train Rush was talking about the other day that went through Lawrence, Kansas, where over 1000 people were waiting for him at 1 A.M. to greet him and hoping to shake his hand and he just waved at them. One person asked: "This is it?" He had been notified way ahead that people were waiting there to greet him and he blamed the snafu on the conductor of that train
Yep, & I think he knew it. Unless you are the owner & boss, keeping your opinions about some things is the wise move to assure your continued employment. There was a time when people knew that you do not talk religion or politics in polite company, much less when making an announcement to a bunch of strangers. The topics were taboo for a reason.
Amtrak can not stand the truth either.
If he said the same thing about Pres. Bush, my guess is that they would have promoted him.
The suspension was well justified. No employee has the right to use his employer's public address system to make political comments to customers.
If I were running Amtrak, I would have suspended him as well, since the guy's job is to drive the train, not to make political statements. However, had the conductor made it clear to the passengers that he was joking, I think I would have let it pass (but warned him not to do it again), since obviously everyone gets frustrated when a train gets delayed and such a joke (if it was clear that it was a joke) would not be in bad taste. For example, had the conductor said "we will be delayed for 45 minutes because Kerry's train is going through. The steward will be passing out rotten eggs shortly for you to throw at Kerry's train when it goes by," I wouldn't have taken any action against the conductor, although I would have asked him to keep his comedic comments at home next time.
It doesn't matter whether it's truth or not. A business can't afford to turn off a portion of their client base. They have a right not to have their employees scaring off some customers.
Bet if he had just explained the delay, "we have to wait due to Kerry's train", he would not have been suspended.
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