Employee testing—we are not workers—we are sheep

We leave our parent’s homes when we grow up and move away. And yet do we really grow up and get on our own. Some people have allowed their employers to act as their “father figure” and treat them as silly children. There are several examples of this but the worst is testing—drugs, for nicotine, your Facebook page and even your health.

Employers treat workers as if they are silly children who don’t know what is good for them. The worst part of all is that most employees just go along with these things—acting like sheep and following blindly when their rights to self determination over their own lives have been taken from them.

It all started with drug testing. It became a fad in the 1980s. Many Americans seemed to feel they didn’t use drugs so this wouldn’t affect them. Yet—putting up with it convinced employees that American workers will put up with anything and they were right. New violations of privacy are springing up every day as employers strip away at employee’s rights.

Even the present day Barack Obama administration, the hope of the American liberal establishment, has endorsed continued drug testing. According the Huffington Post;

“The government wants businesses to drug test their workers to boost productivity and reduce health care costs, according to the 2012 National Drug Control Report released Tuesday.

But not everyone in America should have to pee in a cup, according to a spokesman for the Obama administration agency that issued the report.

"While we believe that employers can use testing as one of a variety of tools to help guide employees suffering from substance abuse disorders into treatment –- which as we announced yesterday is not a moral failing but a treatable disease -– it is certainly not our policy that every employer in America ought to test and punish employees," Rafael Lemaitre, spokesman for the administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an email.”

It’s not really a guide and it does lead to punishment, which here in Kansas means being fired. The real issues are why someone who employs can be trusted to be drug free? What makes them so much better than the rest of us that they can make major decisions about our health and welfare?  Are they our parents or employers? Today it is hard to tell.

HEALTH TESTING: CBS—A new policy by CVS Pharmacy requires every one of its nearly 200,000 employees who use its health plan to submit their weight, body fat, glucose levels and other vitals or pay a monthly fine.

Sure it is a cost cutter since they can discriminate against those whose health might cost them money. The CVS corporate lackeys have pretended that this is really just helping the employees stay in good health. Again we are too stupid to take care of our own health and we need “big daddy” to watch over us. And it just happens to save them money.

 FACEBOOK—Give us your private codes. Many companies are asking future employees if they can have their pass words to such social networks as Facebook. This is one more way of checking on whether we party or lead “healthy” lives. They can also see if you are loyal employees or if you complain about your last job. So it’s more than just your health here. They want to see if you will be loyal to them and they can illuminate anyone who doesn’t fit in with the corporate culture. That would include a Marxist like me.

I wouldn’t give that password to ANYONE. I certainly wouldn’t give it out to get a job. Some states have banned employers for asking for that. In Kansas anything goes. An employee can be fired for any or no reason. So it is unlikely that employers here will be protected from this personal privacy invasion. But many people just volunteered this information out of desperation to get a job or they simply never thought to question what their “big daddy” future employer might ask them to do.   

So are we workers or slaves? Are we stupid children who need big daddy employer to tell us how we should and can live? For too many workers there is a lack of outrage against being treated as just stupid children or just slaves.

We need to raise consciousness that we produce for these employers which is the reason we are paid. They don’t own us and they have no right to pry on our privacy. Brad Seff, a former Broward County, Fla., employee, learned the hard way that it is legal, according to one court. Seff sued the county in April 2011 after it charged him an extra $40 per month for health insurance after he refused health screenings.—from Nolo

Until more workers get angry and sue, we are not going to see our privacy rights protected at work. Once again we see that in this country we don’t have any freedom or democracy when we work and for most of our wake time, we ARE at work.

-សតិវ អតុ

Devo - Freedom Of Choice

Devo - Peek-A-Boo!