By: Emily Sullivan
Opinion Editor
Political propaganda is commonplace with an election rapidly approaching. Whether it’s a sign in your neighbor’s front yard or a TV commercial, candidates are doing whatever they can to reach out and get the votes they need.
But when a commercial comes on in support of President Barack Obama, you can simply change the channel. If you see a sign in someone’s yard supporting Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, you don’t have to look at it.
The coal miners at Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, were not given the choice to look away or change the channel. According to an Aug. 28 Huffington Post article, the employees were forced to attend a campaign event for Mitt Romney earlier this month.
Employees at the coal mine were told by their employer it was mandatory to attend a campaign event for Romney. The workers came forward saying they were forced to give up a day’s worth of pay to go and stand in support of Romney.
Rob Moore, the Chief Financial Officer of the company that owns Century Mine, Murray Energy Company, denies the claims the employees have made.
“Our managers communicated to our workforce that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend,” Moore said.
When something is “mandatory,” it means that you must partake in it. The workers were clearly afraid to test their bosses and didn’t want to risk their jobs.
After the event, the local radio station, WWVA, received several emails from some Murray employees saying the company records the names of workers who don’t show up to mandatory events. The workers were afraid of being fired if they didn’t show up.
Losing your job because you didn’t go to a political rally that you didn’t support seems extreme and completely unfair.
Politics are a touchy subject. Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs and, odds are, others aren’t going to agree with them. But pushing your beliefs onto someone else is wrong. Why should an employer have the right to force his or her workers into supporting someone they may not agree with?
As Americans, we are supposed to have our own say when it comes to politics. That is why we vote and choose a leader based on the majority. We shouldn’t have to support someone that we don’t believe in.
Murray Energy Company is known for supporting Republicans. Romney previously partnered up with the CEO of Murray Energy Company, Bob Murray, for a fundraising event in Virginia. His company has also donated $900,000 over the past two years to Republican candidates, according to the same Huffington Post article.
But just because a company executive supports a certain political party, it doesn’t mean all the employees have to.
No one should be forced into supporting something they don’t believe in. Whether it is politics or religion, everyone should be able to have their own opinions and beliefs and shouldn’t have to be afraid of expressing them.
The miners work at the mine to produce coal. They shouldn’t lose a day’s work and pay to support something they may not believe in. If some workers at Century Mine do not support Romney, they shouldn’t be pressured into supporting him. The employers wouldn’t force their workers to go to church if they didn’t believe in God.
If it had been, this situation would have become a much bigger deal. But this is just as big of an injustice.
No one should be forced into supporting anyone or anything that they don’t believe in.
It goes against everything we believe in as Americans.
