Summary

Republican mega-donors Dick and Liz Uihlein, major backers of Trump, surveyed employees at their company, Uline, on their voting preferences for the upcoming U.S. election. Uline is based in swing-state Wisconsin, critical for presidential candidates.

Marketed as “anonymous,” the survey requested employees sign in, raising privacy concerns and skepticism among staff.

Liz Uihlein dismissed concerns, calling the survey “for fun” and voluntary, though legal experts warn that such employer requests can be intimidating and may increase employee anxiety.

Federal and state laws prohibit voter intimidation, with Wisconsin specifically criminalizing vote solicitation.

  • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    I fucking hate these mother fuckers. They fund Daren Bailey and Bruce Rauner in Illinois. They were also behind the case where a downstate judge threatened to have JB Pritzker arrested for his Covid emergency orders and mask mandates. I will not be upset when they pass away.

    • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Pritzker is one of the most down to earth wealthy people I’ve ever met. I didn’t realize who I was dealing with until later on.

      • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        He’s been really good for Illinois, I didn’t want another billionaire and didn’t vote for him in the primary, but I’ll take what I can get. I was disappointed that he rolled back biometric data collection fines.

        • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          Everyone tells me he’s been good for their quality of life and at the least not leading a class war against the poor. Pleasant surprise to hear.

  • macniel@feddit.org
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    18 days ago

    I guess republicans don’t care about those laws since Orange Jesus will just pardon them, or so they hope. They believe they are on a just crusade… disgusting.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      They’re banking on SCOTUS continuing to gut regulatory agencies from having the authority to oversee corporations.

      They want their fiefdoms.

    • StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      That, and they know none of them will see effective penalties for voter intimidation and coercion. Maybe a fine. Maybe a year in jail. Maybe both.

      In a just world, these donors would get a year for every employee who took the survey. Just to serve as a deterrent to other multi-millionaire bosses. More likely they’ll weasel out of anything but lawyers fees and a statement on their website.

  • treefrog@lemm.ee
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    18 days ago

    I hope the state goes after them.

    The current DA is pretty fucking liberal as far as DAs go.

    And they are a big reason why politics in Wisconsin are so stacked in favor of Republicans. They do a lot of business here and her husband is heir to the Schlitz beer fortune. They fund a lot of the Republican state representatives campaigns.

    They are also the main reason why Wisconsin is still a prohibition state in regards to marijuana. Supposedly good Christians don’t want cannabis competing with their much more destructive and addictive product.

    The exact type of people Jesus was talking about in his eye of the needle parable

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        No such issue here in Indiana. Just stupid right-wing Christian bullshit.

        We’re surrounded on three sides by states making all of Indiana’s potential tax money from cannabis sales.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    “Anonymous”

    “Log in”

    Lmao. Nope. I’ve seen that one before. Didn’t get me that time either.

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I would also just lie to my boss anyway. But I also don’t have a social media present that’s tied to my real life/name.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    If the parties were reversed, and it were a Democratic owner pushing the polling, Republican employees would have burned the place down already.

  • Sabata@ani.social
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    18 days ago

    Did they just give out wrongful termination settlements as severance for all employees?

      • FilthyHands@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        I work in the packaging industry, and they have literally every size box, in any quantity, on demand. That being said, our clients purchase everything. We don’t have much say in what vendors they choose.

        Fun fact: I throw away (recycle) 2-5 full size Uline catalogs a day, even though it says on every packing slip CUSTOMER REQUESTS NO CATALOGS.

        • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          They have to constantly print and ship catalogs. How else will they explain why they underpay their workers so much?

  • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    My brother’s former employer (Jim Justice, current governor of West Virginia) once laid off nearly everyone in the mine he worked at. With their last paycheck was a letter, (paraphrasing) “If Barack Obama is elected, we may never return to work.”

    I took it as, “Well, vote Republican or we aren’t opening the mines back up and you won’t have a job.”

    Wasn’t long after Obama won that they called most of them back.

    It’s crazy how often my brother and his coworkers had to chase their paychecks too. Justice is known locally for stiffing his workers, yet somehow he’s qualified to govern the state. Beats me man. I need to look at the election results and see how many people voted for him in towns where he employs people. It would shock me if he got a significant post job of the vote in those towns given his reputation.

    Before he was governor I only ever heard his name in a negative light.

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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      18 days ago

      I worked for them for a year as a contractor. That’s one place I’m glad I don’t work any more. Weird as fuck. The people there were normal but the policies and things felt cultish to me.

        • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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          18 days ago

          So the main office, which I didn’t visit personally, but some from my team did, was treated almost reverently. It was business professional dress code, even for technical staff, which seems really out of touch these days. Ties and blazer and suit pants. I feel like I remember casual work days were maybe once per quarter or less? And they were still business casual.

          I heard things like you never, ever walked on the grass. Ever. Company affirmations and cheerleading. Things like that. And they would browbeat employees. Massive social pressure to conform and to make the company part of your identity.

          Cult might be a little strong, but definitely creepy vibes.

          • naun@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Company affirmations and cheerleading. Things like that. And they would browbeat employees. Massive social pressure to conform and to make the company part of your identity.

            Nope, “cult” is not too strong a word. Those are cult tactics.

  • Bone@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Yeah, politics is…fun. Just another Republican caught in the act thinking everything is a joke. You’re not a comedian, you’re an asshole.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I haste them for so many reasons.

      Not least of which is the 5 phone-book-sized catalogs they mail me every week despite me never, ever using their services.

      They’d make a bunch more money by just cutting back on their junk mail than through illegal voter intimidation.