How long should a Working Week be? / Mobbing because of a personal home-page

[smalltalk]

An employee of the German Dresdner Bank has been threatened with loosing his job, because he runs a web site that promotes a 5-hour working day.

The company claimed he would not be "fitting" to the corporate identity. He was forced to resign by himself or to be fired. His "extremist world view" would be harming the companies agenda.

So much for the freedom of speech in Germany.

German links:
http://www.5-stunden-woche.de/index.htm
http://www.akratie.de/5_stunden_woche/index.htm

As far as I remember, it was Sir Thomas Moore, English Chancellor from the time of Henry VIII, who wrote in his novel UTOPIA that 4 hours of work would be sufficent, if man stuck to producing what was really needed ...

 

[cgannon64]

So protest is illegal? And I bet he didn't even bring it up at the workplace either, it was probably a personal website he ran, right?

 

[Quasar1011]

Geez, where was this guy when I needed recruits for my cult of Lazytarianism?

 

[Riesstiu IV]

The website probably said, "We should only work 5 hours... Heil Hitler! Teach all of your dogs the Hitler salute!". You get my point

 

[HighlandWarrior]

5 hours a day? crap!

40hour work week, 10hours a day, that's my idea of a work week.

 

[Theige]

you only work 4 days?

 

[Perfection]

Bah! You need to take AP biology to be able to complain about working!

 

[Theige]

Try AP Physics perfection

AP bio was a cakewalk compared to this

 

[Archer 007]

The idea of 5-hour day is pointless. The commuite would be longer then work

 

[HighlandWarrior]

no i work 5 days, i wish i worked 4 10hour days.

 

[andrewgprv]

Originally posted by HighlandWarrior
no i work 5 days, i wish i worked 4 10hour days.

working 4 10's is great if your job isn't too wearing or repetitive, but otherwise it sucks bad!

 

[bobgote]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
The website probably said, "We should only work 5 hours... Heil Hitler! Teach all of your dogs the Hitler salute!". You get my point

That nazi dog is the best ever

Originally posted by HighlandWarrior
no i work 5 days, i wish i worked 4 10hour days.

I could do that now if i wanted to. I don't.

 

[Perfection]

Originally posted by theage
Try AP Physics perfection

AP bio was a cakewalk compared to this

Bah! Just a bunch of equations! Equations are easy!

 

[Speedo]

5 hrs a day is plenty for me, but then most jobs aren't as physically demanding as being a package handler. For full time people I think 40/week is fine.

 

[thestonesfan]

Originally posted by cgannon64
So protest is illegal? And I bet he didn't even bring it up at the workplace either, it was probably a personal website he ran, right?

He's not going to jail. He was fired. The company is exercising their freedom of speech.

 

[Kinniken]

Originally posted by thestonesfan


He's not going to jail. He was fired. The company is exercising their freedom of speech.

Firing people is not "freedom of speech". Not to mention that advocating a five-hour working week is assimilable to a political opinion, and in France at least firing people for their political opinions is quite rightly forbidden.
Now, if he was putting his ideas in practice at his bank, that's an other matter entirely.

 

[thestonesfan]

Originally posted by Kinniken


Firing people is not "freedom of speech". Not to mention that advocating a five-hour working week is assimilable to a political opinion, and in France at least firing people for their political opinions is quite rightly forbidden.
Now, if he was putting his ideas in practice at his bank, that's an other matter entirely.

It's a freedom of expression, then.

If you own a business, you should be able to fire anyone for whatever reason you want. After all, you're the one that pays the person, not the government. It's ludicrous to order someone to employ a person they don't want to!

 

[Kinniken]

Originally posted by thestonesfan
If you own a business, you should be able to fire anyone for whatever reason you want. After all, you're the one that pays the person, not the government. It's ludicrous to order someone to employ a person they don't want to!

I strongly disagree with that. You should not be able to fire someone because he is black, or communist, or does not want to sleep with you. Workers have right as well, and having political opinions independently of their Boss's is one.

 

[thestonesfan]

Originally posted by Kinniken


I strongly disagree with that. You should not be able to fire someone because he is black, or communist, or does not want to sleep with you. Workers have right as well, and having political opinions independently of their Boss's is one.

I've had enough of this. You're fired!

 

[Kinniken]

Originally posted by thestonesfan


I've had enough of this. You're fired!

Nope, you can't do this. Not in France, at least

Now if you can prove that I was answering your post during office hours, then you might have a point