Urge legislators to vote on Worker Privacy Act! As reported in Friday's WSLC Legislative Update newsletter, the Worker Privacy Act is ready for floor votes in both the House and Senate, and the Washington State Labor Council is urging all supporters to contact their legislators (again) to urge a vote. The deadline for floor votes is Thursday, March 12. The legislation has very strong support among state legislators, with 47 sponsors in the House and 21 sponsors in the Senate, and plenty of votes to pass, according to vote counts by WSLC staff who have discussed the issue with legislators. It has already inspired thousands of emails, phone calls and letters of support to legislators. Download the Worker Privacy Fact Sheet - pdf Even if you've previously contacted them on this issue, your help is needed again. The governor urging support and a floor vote for the Worker Privacy Act! Business lobbying groups that oppose it are hoping to block a vote because they know the Worker Privacy Act has the support to pass. The beauty of freedom of speech is that it necessarily includes the freedom not to listen. If we grow weary of the rants of political commentators with whom we disagree, we can change the channel. If a movie unexpectedly takes an offensive turn, we can walk out. If a telemarketer calls, we can hang up. If an unwanted email arrives, we can delete it without reading it. Take away the freedom not to listen and the only alternative to avoiding offensive speech is censorship. But under current law, your employer can legally force you to sit down and be indoctrinated regarding his or her opinion about how you worship, how you vote, and other issues of private individual conscience. The Worker Privacy Act (SB 5446 and HB 1528) would allow workers in Washington state to choose whether or not to participate in employer communication on issues of individual conscience, including politics, religion, charitable giving, and unionization. Business lobbying groups that oppose the bill -- and hope to avoid a vote because they know it will pass -- are calling the Worker Privacy Act an "Employer Gag Rule" and deliberately misrepresenting it as an illegal infringement on employers' free speech. Absolutely NO employer communication is banned under the Worker Privacy Act. Employers can still hold meetings, send emails, insert letters into paycheck envelopes, post fliers and communicate in a host of other ways their opinions about ANY issue, including issues of individual conscience. Employers can still hold mandatory meetings on issues that are work-related, regarding job performance, training and lawfully required employee action, such as work safety, discrimination, etc. The Worker Privacy Act simply grants employees the right not to listen when employers seek to impose their personal opinions on religion, politics, unionization and charitable giving. It is the employer act or threat of firing or disciplining employees who "opt out" to retain their privacy on those matters -- not the employers' speech -- which is banned. Why should employers have the right to force their opinions on their employees? No one else in America has that right!
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