Borders Union Responds: Says Borders Unfit, Tells Blogosphere to have a nice day

GoGov.com ^ | September 16, 2004 | Gogov

[BJungNan]

Dear visitors from the blogosphere:

Thank you for your interest in the Borders Union web site. Please be aware that it is not the policy of Borders Books, or of any of the Unions that represent its employees, to "hide" or refuse to sell a book based on political content. Borders management can be expected to take appropriate disciplinary measures if they catch employees interfering with sales.

Some people who post on our bulletin board do not work at Borders. We do not verify employment. According to IP Address records, the person who posted the "let's hide the book" message was also posting under another name, responding to the messages he posted under his first name. This suggests to us that this was a troll who was trying to manufacture controversy. His account(s) have been deleted. We are temporarily ending user registration to prevent further incidents of trolling. Accounts created on September 15th have been deactivated.

We have temporarily blocked access to a portion of the site in order to protect our webserver from crashing due to high traffic. Please be patient.

Since Borders, like many corporations, refuses to pay a Living Wage, Borders local customers have the option of speaking to an underpaid manager if they feel an underpaid floor employee is pursuing an agenda different from the sales agenda of the corporation.

Have a nice day.

[BJungNan]

The Borders employees may or may not be hiding books. But the Borders Union Employees is sure not hiding its liberal bent against corporations and its displesure with Borders.

[My2Cents]

Have a nice day.

I've decided to take their advice, and take the rest of the day off!

[GoLightly]

The whine at the end was classic. lol

[Thrusher]

Since Borders, like many corporations, refuses to pay a Living Wage, Borders local customers have the option of speaking to an underpaid manager if they feel an underpaid floor employee is pursuing an agenda different from the sales agenda of the corporation.

Wah.

[Phsstpok]

But the Borders Union Employees is sure not hiding its liberal bent against corporations and its displesure with Borders.

It's a UNION site. Get over it. It's like the shock, shock I tell you, expressed by CBS when they "discovered" that posters on FreeRepublic might possibly be, horrors, Republicans!

All in all I think the guys response was pretty straight forward and that he handled it well. After all, we know what a troll is, so we should sympathize.

[mhking]

Since Borders, like many corporations, refuses to pay a Living Wage, Borders local customers have the option of speaking to an underpaid manager if they feel an underpaid floor employee is pursuing an agenda different from the sales agenda of the corporation.

Define "living wage," moron.

[dead]

Since Borders, like many corporations, refuses to pay a Living Wage...

Then why aren’t Borders employees dying en masse?

Socialist gobbledygook, from pseusdo-intellectual union thugs.

[gunnygail]

I heard it clear over here.

[BJungNan]

Not sure it matters, but I forgot to post the article.

Borders Union Responds to Borders 'Unfit' Controversy
Says Borders Unfit, Tells Blogosphere to have a nice day
While the website of the Borders Books Employee Union has disavowed that either it or Borders Books has a policy that permits employees to "hide" books from public view, it has taken a shot at Borders and corporations in general by claiming Borders, like other corporations, is refusing to pay its floor employees and store managers a living wage.

The message appears at the original link to The Borders Books Employee Union Web Site forum that first crashed due to high traffic caused when it was discovered that employees of Borders openly admitted online to keeping a book critical of John Kerry from the public. The website now announces access to its site has been restricted due what its website says was a large number of new registrations and disruptive posts. The original forum posts have been archived here. The posts captured by GoGov.com are prior to the high volume of disruptive posts the website apparently received and while the forum was still in relative obscurity.

[Trillian]

So lemme get this straight. The people who posted the naughty things do not work for them?
Methinks they're lying to cover their arses.

[BJungNan]

Not sure it matters, but I forgot to post the article.

Borders Union Responds to Borders 'Unfit' Controversy
Says Borders Unfit, Tells Blogosphere to have a nice day
While the website of the Borders Books Employee Union has disavowed that either it or Borders Books has a policy that permits employees to "hide" books from public view, it has taken a shot at Borders and corporations in general by claiming Borders, like other corporations, is refusing to pay its floor employees and store managers a living wage.

The message appears at the original link to The Borders Books Employee Union Web Site forum that first crashed due to high traffic caused when it was discovered that employees of Borders openly admitted online to keeping a book critical of John Kerry from the public. The website now announces access to its site has been restricted due what its website says was a large number of new registrations and disruptive posts. The original forum posts have been archived here. The posts captured by GoGov.com are prior to the high volume of disruptive posts the website apparently received and while the forum was still in relative obscurity.

[GoLightly]

LOL

[Taliesan]

The newsworthy item here is that Borders is holding guns to the heads of their employees and forcing them into slave labor.

[RikaStrom]

Since Borders, like many corporations, refuses to pay a Living Wage, Borders local customers have the option of speaking to an underpaid manager if they feel an underpaid floor employee is pursuing an agenda different from the sales agenda of the corporation

Holy Smokes, what whiney little liberals!

[Politicalmom]

Guess this is an appropriate place for this: Dear ____, Thank you for contacting us with your concerns about postings at www.bordersunion.org . First, I’d like to stress that as a company, Borders is absolutely apolitical. We take no stance whatsoever, and for over 30 years we have been committed to our customers’ right to choose what to read and what to buy. Our stores are highly regarded for featuring a very deep and diverse selection of titles in hundreds of subject areas--including politics--representing a wide range of thought. We take great measures to communicate this on an ongoing basis to employees and to emphasize the importance of not expressing political viewpoints while working in our stores. In fact, Vin Altruda, the President of Borders Stores Worldwide, has personally communicated strongly to all employees that it is not appropriate to share their personal political viewpoints in any way while at work- through conversations with other employees or customers, by wearing T-shirts or buttons of a political nature, or by taking any actions to express a political viewpoint. That said, with more than 32,000 employees worldwide, it is challenging to manage the actions of each individual. And of course we cannot control what employees say or do on their own time outside of working in our stores. This includes posting their thoughts on websites that are not associated with our company. It is important to note that the site you’ve referred to is not accessible to our employees at work, nor are any of the statements on it a reflection of our company policy. Of course, we realize that this particular posting is claiming that an employee has taken actions of a political nature while on the job. At the current time we have no evidence that any inventory in our stores has been diverted or destroyed by an employee. I assure you that this type of behavior would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Should we become aware of specific actions and can verify that a specific individual has indeed taken these actions, we will certainly take appropriate disciplinary action. On the subject of the book “Unfit for Command,” it is in Borders stores and continues to be a top-seller. The publisher of this particular book underestimated the popularity of the title and therefore did not print enough copies to meet the initial consumer demand. Although it has been challenging for Borders to secure a continuous supply of this book, we are working with the publisher to meet ongoing demand and are doing our best to assure that our stores have appropriate quantities in stock (please see the attached news articles regarding this issue). I hope this has addressed your concerns. Thank you once again for sharing your thoughts with us. Sincerely, Kim Borders Customer Care 100 Phoenix Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48108

[NRA1995]

So what's a fair wage for some spikey-haired nose-and-lip-ring-adorned college punk punching a cash register or stocking bookstore shelves?

[Politicalmom]

Ok, that WAS formatted...

Dear Cindy,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns about postings at www.bordersunion.org.

First, I’d like to stress that as a company, Borders is absolutely apolitical. We take no stance whatsoever, and for over 30 years we have been committed to our customers’ right to choose what to read and what to buy. Our stores are highly regarded for featuring a very deep and diverse selection of titles in hundreds of subject areas--including politics--representing a wide range of thought.

We take great measures to communicate this on an ongoing basis to employees and to emphasize the importance of not expressing political viewpoints while working in our stores. In fact, Vin Altruda, the President of Borders Stores Worldwide, has personally communicated strongly to all employees that it is not appropriate to share their personal political viewpoints in any way while at work- through conversations with other employees or customers, by wearing T-shirts or buttons of a political nature, or by taking any actions to express a political viewpoint.

That said, with more than 32,000 employees worldwide, it is challenging to manage the actions of each individual. And of course we cannot control what employees say or do on their own time outside of working in our stores. This includes posting their thoughts on websites that are not associated with our company. It is important to note that the site you’ve referred to is not accessible to our employees at work, nor are any of the statements on it a reflection of our company policy.

Of course, we realize that this particular posting is claiming that an employee has taken actions of a political nature while on the job. At the current time we have no evidence that any inventory in our stores has been diverted or destroyed by an employee. I assure you that this type of behavior would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Should we become aware of specific actions and can verify that a specific individual has indeed taken these actions, we will certainly take appropriate disciplinary action.

On the subject of the book “Unfit for Command,” it is in Borders stores and continues to be a top-seller. The publisher of this particular book underestimated the popularity of the title and therefore did not print enough copies to meet the initial consumer demand. Although it has been challenging for Borders to secure a continuous supply of this book, we are working with the publisher to meet ongoing demand and are doing our best to assure that our stores have appropriate quantities in stock (please see the attached news articles regarding this issue).

I hope this has addressed your concerns. Thank you once again for sharing your thoughts with us.

Sincerely,

Kim
Borders Customer Care
100 Phoenix Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108

[SoDak]

Union...liberal...all kinda go together.

[AlaskaErik]

Then why haven't I ever been contacted by Borders? I ordered my copy of "Unfit to Command" a month ago. If I don't answer my phone, it goes to VM. Maybe someone there doesn't want me to have my copy.

[martinidon]

The union goons are another good reason not to buy anything at Borders.