Twitter is up in arms today after Occupy protesters learned about an incident involving fellow protesters that occurred in Amarillo, Texas.
On Saturday, a driver kicked 13 passengers off his Greyhound bus after discovering that they were Occupy protesters from San Diego en route to Washington DC. The driver, Don Ainsworthy, allegedly shouted at them, called them “you people” and told them they weren’t welcome in the nation’s capital or anywhere else for that matter. He then kicked them off the bus, effectively stranding them in Amarillo, Texas.
People immediately sought to aid the 13 protesters, who were on their way to a rally. According to CrooksAndLiars.com, after local media arrived to report on the incident, Papa John’s Pizza provided food and some kind folks offered to buy airline tickets to get them the rest of the way. Police have taken down the name of the driver and the 13 Occupiers, undeterred, have resumed their travel on another Greyhound bus.
This is clearly an action that should result in the firing of the driver. Kicking people off a bus because you don’t agree with their cause is akin to kicking a black person off a bus because of their color. It’s not right and should not be tolerated in the United States of America. But this is the kind of hatred that corporations and conservatives have generated against the Occupy Movement. To call Greyhound and tell them how you feel, call 800-442-8480.
He kicked off 13 passengers that were traveling hundreds of miles costing these people a not insignificant amount of money and also costing the company future paying customers. He should be fired by his employer for this. As others have said he had the right to kick them off (fine print on the tickets) but in doing so he puts his job and reputation of his company on the line. If he is not fired for this then it is the same as Grey Hound officially endorsing this kind of behavior on their buses and thusly should be boycotted by all of OWS in protest of this kind of treatment to paying non-disruptive customers.
By kicking the passengers off the bus, the driver took an action such that the seat was not available for the paying customers. Speech is different from action, even if such an action is undertaken for the purpose of “making a statement.” The driver’s statement of contempt for the OWS protesters was legally permissible (although unimaginably stupid, and I believe that most rational companies would take some form of disciplinary action against any employee who so tarnished the company’s reputation). The form his statement took, the action that implied his statement, was not. He not only denied service to paying customers groundlessly, but also endangered them by stranding them unnecessarily without any means of reaching their destination OR getting home. The driver’s behaviour was egregious and illegal. A paying customer of any sort — not just a bus passenger — has the right to reasonable access to the service paid for. The driver’s actions were beyond unreasonable.
I work for a ‘private’ company that provides a ‘service to the public’. If I treated a paying customer in the heinous way these riders were treated, I would be fired. Plain and simple, no questions asked, this driver deserves no better.
so true, Im a linux guy always working on PCs with windows and mac laptops and just because I like a diff OS doesnt mean I should go in and destroy all their personal stuff just because I dont agree…….And on the note/topic of buses and planes…if the bus driver/plane pilot were to kick off everyone they disagree about something with, NO ONE would be on the bus or plane…ya know? LOL
I would share this but the comparison at the end spoiled the article imo. To use civil rights struggles of the 60s to further this cause is not right and needless hyperbole as said earlier
@ Karen T.
The driver isn’t going to be fired for expressing his opinion, he’s going to be fired for not performing his job and for abusing Greyhound’s customers. This incident is going to cost Greyhound many times more than the total lifetime earnings of this driver. But then, I have faith that you will help his family pay their bills until he can find another job since you think his behavior is acceptable. And, let’s hope that if your home ever catches on fire the firefighters who respond agree with your political opinions. If not, they just might want to exercise their First Amendment rights.
There is a difference between protesting and kicking paying customers – who have broken no laws – off the bus. I think your logic-processing circuits need a little fine-tuning there buddy.
Karen T: The bus driver’s free speech rights do not apply in his capacity as an employee rendering a service paid for by those customers. As a private citizen, yes he can protest the OWS protestors all he wants — but kicking off the protestors without cause is NOT protected speech.
Actually, they do. Greyhound is a private company, not a public service. The only limit on his speech while he is at work is whatever limit Greyhound places on him. As I pointed out elsewhere, buying a ticket from Greyhound does not guarantee you transport from point a to point b. The restriction on civil rights is mostly on the passengers, as should be evident from the number of people Southwest Airlines flight crews have removed from their aircraft before departure, some of which were for dress ‘code’ violations.
Buying a ticket on an airline or bus company means only that there is a seat available for you, it makes no guarantees that you will be in it at the time of departure. As I said elsewhere – Read The Fine Print! It may shock you to find out how few rights a passenger has.
Karen, are you saying that the driver was acting on behalf of Greyhound and that they have a policy of removing passengers who are known protesters of a specific cause as it is the policy of Southwest Airlines to have it’s employees remove passengers who do not adhere to a specified dress code set by Southwest?
But if the passenger has not broken the rules and the driver, who does not have the authority to remove passengers in this manner, does not provide services paid for, the he cannot remove the passenger. It clearly states the rules and they cannot be amended for personal conviction. As for SW Airlines, there is a dress code. It is there on EVERY airline. Also, the TSA sets guidelines for behavior that the crew can choose to enforce. They have an image, in their mind, to uphold. My wife works in the airline industry, so I know the rules very well. These passengers had a contract and as long as they did not violate this contract, Greyhound Bus Lines was obligated to fulfill the contract.
Greyhound is a public carrier and has legal obligations as such. Stating is a private company is true but it cannot treat passengers in any way it desires. The roads are not private property. Hauling passengers is regulated as it should be for the safety of paying passengers. What this driver did put these people in danger. We are lucky the Texans were good American citizens and came to the rescue. These Texans were everyday heroes. The driver was irresponsible, a bad citizen and deserves punishment by Greyhound.
It doesn’t matter. It’s still a very bad business practice and the customers in question need to be reimbursed for the service that they paid for and were not rendered. If they are interested in staying in business they cannot treat their paying customers this way. There aren’t enough tea partiers in the country to keep the buses running just for them.
Karen, can you explain how violating a commercial contract is protected speech? The riders had a contract with Greyhound. He represnted Greyhound. He violated the contract–not to mention the far more grave issue of locking people onto a bus.
Can GMAC repossess your Buick because they don’t like the fact that you intend to drive it to a non-partisan political protest? Is that what you think the Bill of Rights is about?
Actually, Greyhound is a “common carrier”, with specific legal responsibilities. Common carriers are given special rights under the law, on the condition that they provide a “public service”.
Greyhound Bus Lines is absolutely liable for denial of service to teh protesters. Under the license granted by the government, Greyhound must deliver passengers *without discrimination* (literally, they cannot discriminate against which passengers they carry).
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carrier :
A common carrier holds itself out to provide service to the general public without discrimination (to meet the needs of the regulator’s quasi judicial role of impartiality toward the public’s interest) for the “public convenience and necessity”.
An important legal requirement for common carrier as public provider is that it cannot discriminate, that is refuse the service unless there is some compelling reason (e.g. post doesn’t allow to send cash
In common law jurisdictions as well as under international law, a common carrier is absolutely liable[5] for goods carried by it, with four exceptions:[6]
An act of nature
An act of the public enemies
Fault or fraud by the shipper
An inherent defect in the goods
Um, I suppose you are correct Karen but why even say this? does the lack of rights a person has using Greyhound make what this bus driver did correct or does greyhound owe the public (at the very least) to fire this jerk for his actions?
Karen T., nope. It does not matter that this was a private bus company as opposed to a public transit company. In both cases, the driver is an employee of the company and has no right to impose a policy contrary to that of the company’s.
Yes, it is true about private companies such as bus companies and airlines being able to throw people off for such reasons as dress codes. I am knowing this since there was a few years ago an incident at my local mall where someone was ordered to leave for wearing an offensive t-shirt that they had purchased at one of the shops in the very same mall,I guess it was okay for display on sale as long as it would get money but after it was not ? :(
I concur that the fine print pretty much removes many of your rights even as a paying customer. However, the driver made the poor decision in stating their beliefs as the reason for kicking them off – which is something that they can’t do.
Much like an employer can choose not to hire someone based on whatever they wish – they couldn’t come out and say “I’m not hiring you because you’re Christian” or “I don’t hire Pro-Choicers”.
There’s a point in which it goes from simply reserving the right to refuse service, and being blatantly discriminatory. A man like that bus driver is nothing short of a lawsuit waiting to happen.
In response to Karen T’s comment, he may be an employee of a private corporation, but he has NO authority to deny service to paying customers. I doubt very much his private corporation has a policy in place to allow him to deny service based on a client’s political beliefs.
Everyone needs to grow up. Geez guys Robert is 100% right. Any business can deny, after purchase with no refund, any service they offer to anyone for any reason, u just can’t have that discrimination in ur highering process. Tese OWS peeps know they’re throwing themselves into a fight, and a difference in opinion is in no way prejudice eg, if I think I should be allowed to murder, and do so, while u think it’s bad I can be thrown in jail. In other countries like Israel, where protesters would be shot at, Egypt, where ur church will be burned, or North Korea, where you’d either be executed or sent to work camps, the OWS protesters got off easy. Do I agree with OWS….yes, but I also understand the dangers and difficulties of speaking out against something, and apparently only Robert understands. The rest of you….grow up.
Driving a Greyhound bus is not a public service position, duh! He is an employee of a private corporation (Ohhhhh, filthy capitalist!); and he was exercising his First Amendment Free Speech rights and holding a spontaneous protest. After all, I keep hearing that the right to protest is also a protected right under the First Amendment, so he should be excused from any inconvenience he caused to others. Just like the Occupy protesters in NYC, San Francisco, and other places.
The First Amendment doesn’t apply to job requirements.
The protesters should sue Greyhound. It’s not “free speech” to kick people off the bus. I don’t go around ruining the computers of people with whom I disagree, if they’ve paid me to work on them. Maybe I won’t want their business in the future. Usually, though, I try to be as tolerant as I expect others who disagree with me about being tolerant regarding simple business.
Speaking as someone who works a customer service position for a major corporation (although not that one) while I have the right to refuse service (i.e. kick someone out, kick someone off a bus, etc) the reasons I can do so are fairly limited, generally limited to problem customers. I am specifically prohibited from discussion of politics or religion, unless the customer brings them up, and I cannot respond in such a way as to offend the person if my viewpoint differs. This is a part of my employment contract and agreement, and I cannot imagine that Greyhound is substantially different in that regard. Why would they encourage employees to throw people off their buses for reasons that are not detrimental to their business? They wouldn’t have a business for very long if this was either common or acceptable to them as employers.
Also, seriously, you kick someone off your bus because you disagree with their politics? How immature.
I hope you’re getting paid for your self abasement.
Luckily, yours is just the sort of ridiculous crap people are becoming desensitized to. Fewer people will fall for the Luntzian crapola in adopting the needs of corporations and the mega rich as their own. Your corporate masters got greedy, and Americans can’t even delude themselves that things are going well.
“Here the rabble comes
The kind you hoped were dead
They’ve come to chop, to chop off your head”
The right to free speech applies only to Congress. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It says nothing about a citizen imposing his right to eject a person for his or her political position. It only limits what the government can do to you to limit your speech, not what a personal citizen can do. This is a civil matter, and possibly and hopefully a criminal matter.
He had no right to do this!
Greyhound is a public carrier. The driver is therefore in a public service position. All private companies that haul paying passengers are licensed as public carriers by the government.
Greyhound holds itself out as providing a service to the public. They sold these folks a ticket and thus were required to provide that service absent some issue of safety or security. As captialist they should know that they were required to provide the service or be sued for breach of contract. Duh.
What you don’t know about capitalism is stunning.
this is B.S. Karen. man, the third reply to you in an hour. I work in the mortgage industry. Let’s say I decided that tea party members will automatically get turned down for applications at my branch for loans. I of course would not do that in reality… are you infering that I should not get fired for doing so???????
You have got to be kidding me.
Karen, the government cannot censor the citizens because of the 1st amendment. However, a private company does have the right to enforce its policies and has no obligation to provide or support “free speech” to its employees. The driver kicked off the OWS protesters solely based on his political opinion, not company policy (unless there is something about this that is not being reported, ie: they were loud and unruly), so he should be fired.
Surely Greyhound trained their drivers that they cannot kick paying patrons off the bus for political reasons. The driver deserves to be fired because he did not do his job of driving people where they payed to go. I saw nothing to indicate these people were disruptive.
I would not want someone driving me who did not have enough self control to just do his job.
I agree with most everyone, you cannot bring your personal beliefs to work with you when you work in a public service position… but the first reaction is usually a knee-jerk, “Off with his head…!!”. The punishment should befit the crime. There are lots of other ways to deal with this than take away the man’s livelihood…
A Greyhound bus driver is not in a public service job. Greyhound is a private company.
Maybe a two week suspension from work, without pay. This would be a pretty hard hit to the income.
Most employers have little tolerance for employees who severly diminish their reputation with the public and subject the public to their views. The company wants to make money for their shareholders. By doing this simple act, that driver has cost the company money in terms of defending a law suit. Further, the have cost Greyhound a fortune in bad publicity. Firing this guy would not surprise me, nor would the punishment to be too extreme to fit the damage he did to the company.
If the news reports are true and this guy locked people onto his bus for an hour, he should be prosecuted for that many crimes of unlawful imprisonment–however that crime is worded in that jurisdiction.
Prison? Maybe not. But if guilty he should absolutely lose his job and permanently lose his Commercial Driver’s Liscence. Furthermore let the record show that he is a felon.
If some wise judge offers him a thousand hours of community service with Occupy Wall Street as an alternative to incarceration, I would not complain.
Any transportation executive who would continue to employ a driver who commits such crimes is crazy even before he is stupid.
I didn’t know Karl Rove was picking up extra money driving a bus.