Why Can’t WalMart Tell Employees How To Vote?
WalMart is catching a bit of heat over a report that the retail giant instructed it’s employees to vote against the democrats this election season. Of course, WalMart denies that they did exactly that.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar told The Associated Press that the company did discuss the bill with its employees, including what it sees as the negative impact, and noted that the company’s stand on the legislation is no secret.
“We believe the Employee Free Choice Act is a bad bill and we have been on the record as opposed to it,” he said.
But he said the company wasn’t advocating that its employees vote against backers of the legislation.
“If anyone representing Wal-Mart gave the impression… they are wrong and acting without approval,” said Tovar. In fact, he said that Wal-Mart has been working with both Republicans and Democrats.
Here’s my problem with all this. Why can’t WalMart tell it’s employees that they should vote Republican, Democrat, or Vulcan? It’s a free world right? As long as what their vote really is stays private and the company doesn’t make it a requirement but a suggestion, I don’t see the problem. WalMart has a responsibility to it’s shareholders to try and influence legislation in a way that is beneficial to the company. As an employee, it is also beneficial to you to vote for beneficial legislators that will pass legislation that is beneficial to your company.
As an employee, I would almost rather that my employer made me aware of legislation and legislators that would be beneficial to the company. That doesn’t mean that I’ll vote for those legislators or push that legislation, but if I’m sitting on the fence with my vote and one candidate would be better than the other for my company, he/she would get a little more weight in the arguement.
I’m sure the worry is that a company telling it’s employees how they should vote seems wrong. If it were demanded or made a requirement, then I totally would agree. But, the real problem is the uninformed voters who simply vote because they were told they should. The more educated the voter is, the better. Even if the only education they’ve received is from corporate headquarters.