Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Believes Dave Portnoy's Anti-Union Stance Is Illegal
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After The Ringer editorial staff announced a union on Monday, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recalled his blog from when Gawker unionized in 2015 and reiterated that if Barstool Sports tried to unionize he would “smash” their organizational effort. This drew the exact type of response you would expect from his legion of critics, and has now gotten to a point where Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has weighed in.
Science writer Rafi Lezter tweeted for people who work at Barstool to DM him about the process of unionizing, and Portnoy responded that he would fire any of his employees who did that:
If you work for @barstoolsports and DM this man I will fire you on the spot https://t.co/u9vG3VgfV1
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 13, 2019
To this, AOC responded:
If you’re a boss tweeting firing threats to employees trying to unionize, you are likely breaking the law &can be sued,in your words, “on the spot.”
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 13, 2019
ALL workers in the US have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions.
See @NLRB &union orgs like @AFLCIO for tips. https://t.co/bU7WlHrp1d
Portnoy answered back:
Hey @aoc welcome to thunder dome. Debate me. https://t.co/XEmEvt12N4
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 13, 2019
Portnoy has effectively been the roadrunner in his many controversies over the years, always emerging from them in a position of more notoriety and thus wealth and power. Perhaps the wave attention turns to something else soon and nothing more comes out of it. Then, it would have been a winning bit for him.
Nonetheless, from the outside here it seems as though if someone at the end of Barstool’s bench were to feel marginalized by his/her personal position, seek to organize, and then sue if/when Portnoy followed through on his threat, it would at the very least be a major legal inconvenience for Barstool and the Chernin Group.
This has been the latest installment of As The Barstool Turns.