WHOSE WATCHING YOU TODAY

After I left school I worked in a variety of low paid jobs. At work I had no power, no status and no meaningful control over my working day; so in the case of my employer Timpson’s they represented the dictatorship under which I laboured, from 9 00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. six days a week.[1] It would not have occurred to Mr Timpson to attempt to control my activities outside of these hours. For him to seek to control what I thought or what I said to my friends or the people that I met. Those days are gone. We now live in the age of the totalitarian employer.
Many many years later, really in another life, I began to notice clauses in contracts of employment about ‘bringing’ my employer ‘into disrepute’ and promoting equal opportunities ‘at all times’!’

As your average right on Joe I didn't worry too much about signing such contracts; however as time progressed I became more and more concerned about the implications for civil liberties of such clauses. Stories began to emerge of people loosing their jobs after being convicted of relatively minor criminal offences. If you joined certain political parties on the far right you rendered yourself instantly unemployable.[2]
Then with the advent of social media the implications become manifest for all to see, your employer has only to click a mouse to make sure you stay ‘on message’ when posting on Facebook. Even more sinister is the reality of rendering yourself unemployable or being blacklisted without ever knowing it. You apply for a job, you are short-listed and interview well. Your potential employer checks Facebook or Google Plus, it seems you recently converted to a Christian sect, are a member of Stop the War, or something you said hints that you might hold fundamentalist Muslim beliefs. Your chances then of being employed by Walford Housing Association, Denims R Us, or Homeless Outreach plummet to zero.

Thus we have the case this week of Adrian Smith, the Christian the Trafford Housing Trust demoted for politely expressing his opposition to gay marriage on Facebook. He wrote:-

I don’t understand why people who have no faith and don’t believe in Christ would want to get hitched in church. The Bible is quite specific that marriage is for men and women if the state wants to offer civil marriage to same sex then that is up to the state; but the state shouldn't impose it’s rules on places of faith and conscience.’[3]

You might agree or disagree with what he says. He makes his point well, particularly the first sentence seems to me to be self evidently true. As it happens I am in favour, in the interests of equality, of turning civil partnerships into ‘marriage,’ with all the legal implications that follow. What I do feel strongly about is that Mr Smith should enjoy the freedom to hold his opinion and to express it openly.
As to what to do about the sinister growth of the vigilante thought police, it is difficult to know. One way to fight back it seems to me is the “I’m Spartacus,” technique. When someone is persecuted for posting a picture of a burning poppy on Facebook thousands then re-produce it, whether they agree with the original sentiment or not, they cannot possibly prosecute us all and in so doing we also render any subsequent prosecution absurd.

Still when you tweet today be aware of who else your little bird might be talking to.



[1] Thursday was a half day I finished at 1:00 p.m.
[2] For those on the left reading this don’t forget it cuts both ways, Been active in the Occupy movement and boasted about it on Facebook you might find that you have breached your contract of employment.
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