The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. issued a statement Wednesday explaining its policy on political attire in the workplace after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a boycott of the company, claiming it banned people from wearing his promotional “Make American Great Again” campaign hats.
From his Twitter account Trump urged people not to buy Goodyear tires “They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less!” He went to say this was the kind of thing “Radical Left Democrats” do, and his supporters should start boycotting products as well.Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES – They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!).— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2020The president appeared to reference an image that a Goodyear employee allegedly had taken during a diversity training slideshow that went viral this week. A local Kansas television station showed the slide showing a variety of political slogans deemed “acceptable” including “Black Lives Matter” and “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride.”
Listed under the “unacceptable” section were “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter,” “MAGA Attire” and “Political Affiliated Slogans or Material.”
Goodyear, in its statement, posted on its Twitter account, denied that the slide was created or distributed by their corporate office and claimed it was not part of a diversity training class. But they did stand by their workplace policy banning all political slogans of any kind.Yesterday, Goodyear became the focus of a conversation that created some misconceptions about our policies and our company. Goodyear has always wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so. pic.twitter.com/oO6jUg2rTR— Goodyear (@goodyear) August 19, 2020The company said: “To be clear on our longstanding corporate policy, Goodyear has zero tolerance for any forms of harassment or discrimination. To enable a workplace environment free of those, we ask that associates refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.”
The statement also established the company’s support for law enforcement and pushed back on claims Goodyear is “anti-police.”
Goodyear is the largest tire company in North America and is headquartered in Ohio, a 2020 swing state. It employs roughly 63,000 people. The Reuters news service reports shares in Goodyear fell 4% following Trump’s Twitter post.
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