I'm Guilty (was: How do you create a poll here?)

[Guest guest]

I'm afraid I discrimate against meat eaters. I naturally assume they

are either ignorant or sadistic or selfish, or all three.

 

I do run a small company, and I'm afraid that if I ever took on an

employee (very unlikely though!), I would find it very difficult to

employ a non-vegan. Is that illegal?

 

But I've never had any problems from work colleagues. There have been

discussions/arguments (which is not necessarily bad - it helps to

establish your views on things), and I know for sure that some people

think I am crazy, they just don't get it (and I think they're

indoctrinated).

 

Where I'm freelancing at the moment they often have " free food

events " which are supposed to help people gel etc and which I just

don't go to. I know the'll never be anything for me, but then most of

my immediate colleagues don't go either (its such a dysfunctional

organisation!). They're also mostly on Fridays and I don't work

Fridays (I just love saying that!).

 

 

vegan-network, " Lesley Dove " <100706.3632@c...> wrote:

>

> I want to create one, very simple question, with a Yes/No answer,

but

> I don't know how to do it.

> Can John or any other helpful geek type put this up for me, as I

have

> no clue how to do it?

>

> Do any of you feel that you have ever suffered anti-vegan

> discrimination in the workplace (mild or severe, and whether it

ended

> with you losing your job or not)?

>

> Following Jerry Friedman's speaking engagements about his case, I'd

> like some idea how common this problem is, whether it is mild

> harassment from one or two colleagues, or actual loss of a job.

>

> I feel I went through it myself a long time ago, but had no legal

> recourse, and it resulted in me losing a lot of self-confidence.

This

> is what spurred me on to take a special interest in Jerry's case

and

> having him try to inspire more UK vegans to stand up for their

rights.

>

> Lesley

[Guest guest]

vegan-network, " spacevegan " <rob@z...> wrote:

> I'm afraid I discrimate against meat eaters. I naturally assume

they

> are either ignorant or sadistic or selfish, or all three.

>

> I do run a small company, and I'm afraid that if I ever took on an

> employee (very unlikely though!), I would find it very difficult to

> employ a non-vegan. Is that illegal?

>

Well, I certainly feel the same as you do about meat-eaters!

I don't know about the law, but the effect of you as a small company

choosing to employ one vegan instead of one non-vegan is a pretty

small effect to the whole of society.

 

If you were taking on another person, you could probably find your

one vegan employee with the right skills through all the vegans you

are in touch with on the net, maybe an ad on Vegan Village, since you

would look in the right place for an employee, you can avoid the meat-

eaters knowing anyway!

 

I think Plamil are entirely vegan, certainly the people who run the

company are vegan, and I'm pretty sure they specifically employ

vegans. The Vegan Society specifies that its employees must be

dietary vegans at least, so it's certainly not illegal in the case of

a vegan charity, or they would not be allowed to state it when they

advertise jobs at their offices.

I can't tell you what the law says on this though.

 

Just as a Christian would not want to work for a charity promoting

Islam for instance, so a meat-eater would probably not want to work

for Plamil or the Vegan Society, so the problem of lawsuits would

probably not arise!

 

>

> But I've never had any problems from work colleagues. There have

been

> discussions/arguments (which is not necessarily bad - it helps to

> establish your views on things), and I know for sure that some

people

> think I am crazy, they just don't get it (and I think they're

> indoctrinated).

>

> Where I'm freelancing at the moment they often have " free food

> events " which are supposed to help people gel etc and which I just

> don't go to. I know the'll never be anything for me, but then most

of

> my immediate colleagues don't go either (its such a dysfunctional

> organisation!). They're also mostly on Fridays and I don't work

> Fridays (I just love saying that!).

>

 

They took you on there and since they presumably didn't specify that

you had to be able to eat their free food as part of the job before

they took you on (clearly that would be a stupid thing to require

since you are not a food taster), it should be easy enough for them

to provide some fruit at least, but you can't really complain if you

haven't raised the issue and tried to get them to make the effort for

you.

If you wanted to go, there is no reason why they shouldn't

accommodate you, if they are at all reasonable.

 

Discrimination is more of a problem when vegans are not allowed equal

opportunities in public sector employment, where there are supposedly

equal opportunities policies.

 

For instance in the mid 1980's I was a student nurse and I did as I

was required to do and even helped feeding people on meat. I knew it

was part of the job, no point complaining although I openly told

patients and staff I was vegan, for instance if a patient was asking

for advice in filling out the menu form I was open that I could not

personally advise on whether I thought this or that tasted good as I

was vegan and didn't eat animal products for ethical reasons.

 

Anyway I was still harassed for my beliefs, given bad reports and

victimised to the point of being forced out, mostly I would think

because animal rights was looked on as a threat to medicine

(vivisection for drug testing). I never did anything wrong workwise,

and yet I can only imagine that I would have suffered being forced

out even earlier if I had refused vaccinations (I was a bit of a

wimp, and didn't refuse them although I wanted to).

Hospital canteens at that time were also hopeless for vegans, but I

have seen some that are better these days.

 

If they thought nurses should be setting a good example of healthy

living, as befits the profession, they should have harassed the

smokers and excessive boozers who were a very bad example, and not

picked on me, the almost teetotal vegan, but instead of picking on

the nurses who rolled into the nurses home at night drunk (and some

of them banged on my window shouting anti-AR abuse late at night)

they harassed me after an animal rights demo, just because I was

questioned, not even arrested or charged by the police. I was hauled

up before the head of the school of nursing and ordered to explain.

My response was that it was none of her business, since I had done

nothing wrong, and what I do in my own time is my business

(especially if some of the others can be drunkards in their spare

time!). Nurses had much more of a reputation for bad health habits

such as smoking and excessive drinking than they had for being animal

rights activists, so I don't think I was bringing the profession into

disrepute by being in an animal rights group. They clearly thought I

was.

 

Surprise, surprise, I suddenly got a bad report and was demoted to

nursing auxiliary very soon after that clash with the head.

Coincidence? I think not. Obviously she wanted me out of nurse

training, and used her power to have me kicked out. But I could not

prove this.

 

Lesley