• @Pacattack57
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    301 month ago

    By law employers are required to allow their workers an opportunity to vote. The problem is other stuff like taking their kids to school and having to go to work right after and by the time you make it to the poll through rush hour traffic, the line is out the door and they shut it down and don’t let you vote even though you waited for an hour.

    • @[email protected]
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      271 month ago

      My roommate asked for time off to vote; her employer literally laughed at her. Now, there is legal recourse there, and she would have likely won and even gotten awarded a money judgment.

      But she needed that job without interruption. This was in Canada, by the way.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 month ago

        This is why you don’t ask.

        Also, you don’t really need a whole day. I’m also Canadian. Employers are required to allow you time to do it, not an entire day.

        I would phrase the question like this: “I need to take time to go vote. Would you prefer I take the morning or afternoon off?”

        If they so no to both, you say “you know it’s illegal not to allow me time off to vote, right?”

        I’ve changed careers since the last election, but as a driver I’d just say “I’m going to swing by the polling place in my way to or back from wherever” and it was never a problem.

        • Count Regal Inkwell
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          151 month ago

          It really depends on how much you need that job to like

          Not be homeless

          And how hard it was to get the job in the first place.

          You can make your legal rights count if you have options.

          If you don’t, you let your boss walk all over you and thank them for it.

          • @[email protected]
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            81 month ago

            I mean you do have options. We have the labour board here in Canada.

            You don’t tell your employer you’re talking to them. You let them contact the employer. They can’t fire you while an investigation is ongoing.

    • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
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      131 month ago

      So the bare minimum that even my little Eastern European hellhole could do was that a polling place closing means that those in line can still vote.

      A poll worker gets in line exactly at closing time, and those in front get to vote however long that takes. It’s not hard to organize.

      • @Aceticon
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        41 month ago

        Yeah, it’s exactly the same in the very opposite end of Europe (and about as poor) - Portugal - which I know becaused I maned the polling places a couple of times and read the rule book.

          • @Aceticon
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            11 month ago

            People generally do it because they’re in a political party, plus you get paid for it though I think it takes many months for it to come in (never really worried enough about it to keep an eye out for that money coming into my bank account) and it doesn’t add up to much per hour for what’s a really long day (from about 6 AM to around 10 - 12PM depending on how long it takes to count the votes of one’s polling station).

            It’s an interesting experience if a bit tiring.

    • @[email protected]
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      131 month ago

      The law also doesn’t require employers to pay for that time, so many can’t afford to take the time off even if their employer is chill about it.

      • @Pacattack57
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        71 month ago

        Oh no it’s never paid, but they have to allow them time to vote. Usually that means wake up at 6am to get to the polls by 7

        • @[email protected]
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          1 month ago

          it’s never paid

          As a salaried worker your pay will not change just because you took time off to vote. So it is de facto requires to pay for the time, but only for those who already have the privilege of a salaried position.

          Edit to make my point even more clear: the current law is structural discrimination against poor people.

          • @Pacattack57
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            11 month ago

            You are arguing semantics on whether it’s paid or not. No one cares. The point is, paid or not, your job has to give you time to vote, usually at the employees expense.

            • @[email protected]
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              1 month ago

              Thanks for your reply! I am not arguing semantics at all. I am pointing out an inherent disadvantage faced by lower paid workers in an unfair system. Which is the entire point of this discussion. The fact that you don’t care about a few hours of paid time perfectly demonstrates that the privileged benefactors of the current system don’t even realize that others are being actively oppressed through technicalities of the law.

    • Count Regal Inkwell
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      1 month ago

      The thing is

      “The law says it has to happen” doesn’t mean it happens.

      And the weaker labour protections are in your country, the more bosses can walk all over their employees.

      In the US, with their so-called “at-will” employment system, you can be fired at any time for any reason, and if you need the job to like, live, you won’t even bring up your legal rights.

      Mind you even on countries where polling happens exclusively on Sunday (like mine!) there are other subtle ways The Poors tm are kept from enfranchisement. “Voting happens on a work day” is just one of the ways it happens in one of our world’s oligarchies.

      • @MutilationWave
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        41 month ago

        If you’re in food service, election day is likely an all hands on deck situation. Incredibly shitty. And here in the US a ton of people work weekends. I didn’t get a job that had weekends off until my mid 30s.

    • @Branch_Ranch
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      31 month ago

      I’m so glad my state has mail-in voting. Sorry buddy.