Trump Trump Takes Aim at Goodyear Over Ban on Campaign Attire -- 6th Update
August 19 2020 - 2:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Foldy
President Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear Tire &
Rubber Co. in response to reports that the company showed a slide
to workers prohibiting the wearing of politically-affiliated
slogans, such as "Make America Great Again" apparel.
In a tweet posted Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump wrote: "Don't buy
GOODYEAR TIRES - they announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better
tires for far less!"
Throughout his presidency, Mr. Trump has frequently taken to
Twitter to criticize companies, including some industrial giants
such as Boeing Co. and General Motors Co. His criticism has at
times taken executives by surprise, leaving them scrambling to
respond to potentially brand-damaging comments intended to
influence customers.
The divisiveness of the coming election, coupled with mounting
tensions over race and law enforcement, have created difficulties
for business leaders looking to regulate political expression in
the workplace.
Other companies have also had to wrestle with thorny questions
related to what types of politicized speech are appropriate in the
work setting and when to put limits on certain phrases or slogans
to help keep the peace among employees.
For instance, Starbucks Corp. told employees earlier this year,
during the nationwide protests over the deaths of Black people in
police custody, that company policy prohibited any display of
slogans relating to a personal, political or religious issue. The
company soon after reversed course, distributing 250,000 T-shirts
with the "Black Lives Matter" slogan.
The flare-up involving Goodyear began Tuesday after a local news
station in Kansas published a photograph of a slide presented to
company employees with a list of acceptable and unacceptable
slogans to be worn at work.
On the acceptable list was the phrase "Black Lives Matter" and
slogans supporting LGBT pride, while the police-supporting slogan
"Blue Lives Matter" and politically-affiliated slogans -- including
the "Make America Great Again" message of Mr. Trump's campaign --
were deemed unacceptable.
After the president's tweet, Goodyear responded on Twitter that
the photograph had "created some misconceptions about our
policies." The company said in a written statement that it asks
workers to refrain from displaying support for any campaign or
political party in the workplace and limit advocacy, with the
exception of expressions related to racial-justice and -equity
issues. The company also said it supports both equality and law
enforcement.
Shares in Goodyear were down 4.1% early Wednesday afternoon,
with most of that decline coming after the president's tweet.
Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager for Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden, said she hadn't seen the tweet yet.
But she said Mr. Trump was "putting his own political interests
ahead of the good of this country, ahead of a strong economy. He
spends a tremendous amount of his time in the White House focused
on how things reflect on him personally when he should be thinking
about how they impact American families."
The latest incident comes as Mr. Trump has interceded in other
business matters, including advocating for the sale of the U.S.
operations of social-media app TikTok. He has argued that TikTok
should be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd., over
privacy and national security concerns amid rising tensions with
the Chinese government.
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Satya Nadella has said he has
coordinated with the White House on the company's efforts to
acquire TikTok. Mr. Trump also said Tuesday he would support Oracle
Corp. in pursuing the company. Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and
Chief Executive Safra Catz have close ties to Mr. Trump's
administration and campaign efforts.
Mr. Trump reiterated that any buyer would have to pay the U.S.
Treasury for facilitating the sale by issuing executive orders that
would prohibit U.S. users from transacting with TikTok unless it
were sold.
"We're the ones making it possible," Mr. Trump said.
Legal and economics professors have questioned Mr. Trump's power
to compel such a payment.
Last year, employees at Alphabet Inc.'s Google criticized the
company for limiting expression on political topics and workplace
issues. Some right-leaning workers complained they had been
retaliated against for their views while left-leaning staff say
they were stymied when trying to protest corporate policies around
regulating hate speech.
Mr. Trump tweeted support for one right-leaning employee, Kevin
Cernekee, after his allegations of bias were reported in The Wall
Street Journal.
In a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, Google
agreed to inform current employees of their rights to speak openly
on topics of workplace diversity and compensation.
Write to Ben Foldy at Ben.Foldy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 19, 2020 14:27 ET (18:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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