The neo-Nazi former chimney sweep
Or, technically, master chimney sweep, "a status akin to that of civil servants...assigning them independent districts to oversee. The law requires property owners to have chimney sweeps check ventilation and heating systems". Source.
Anyway, said chimney sweep, one 49-year-old Lutz Battke has been deprived of his employment by the Land of Sachsen-Anhalt (used to be Prussia, but never mind), because of his political proclivities. Or more precisely, "a lack of personal integrity as grounds for the dismissal after conducting a lengthy investigation that amassed a 26-page dossier on the chimney sweep's activities".
I will not make the usual boilerplate statement at this stage as it would insult anyone who has ever read this blog, so on with the rant:
Was he refusing to clean the chimneys of those who would have been in trouble under the Nuremburg laws? No indication is given.... So, if people with fringe, if legal, political affiliations are to be denied employment, purely on the grounds of ideology, and not on the grounds of competence, is it preferable that they should be paid to be idle by the state? I would consider it infinitely more vexatious that neo-Nazis, Trots or whatever be given a permanent sick note from paid employment than run the risk of having my chimney cleaned, post delivered, bins emptied etc by someone with politics I find repulsive.
Hell, I would not mind the outgoing Mayor of London making an honest living in the private sector.
Anyway, said chimney sweep, one 49-year-old Lutz Battke has been deprived of his employment by the Land of Sachsen-Anhalt (used to be Prussia, but never mind), because of his political proclivities. Or more precisely, "a lack of personal integrity as grounds for the dismissal after conducting a lengthy investigation that amassed a 26-page dossier on the chimney sweep's activities".
I will not make the usual boilerplate statement at this stage as it would insult anyone who has ever read this blog, so on with the rant:
Was he refusing to clean the chimneys of those who would have been in trouble under the Nuremburg laws? No indication is given.... So, if people with fringe, if legal, political affiliations are to be denied employment, purely on the grounds of ideology, and not on the grounds of competence, is it preferable that they should be paid to be idle by the state? I would consider it infinitely more vexatious that neo-Nazis, Trots or whatever be given a permanent sick note from paid employment than run the risk of having my chimney cleaned, post delivered, bins emptied etc by someone with politics I find repulsive.
Hell, I would not mind the outgoing Mayor of London making an honest living in the private sector.
Labels: Common sense? What's that?, Germany, Workplace
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on Thursday, May 01, 2008 at 9:42 am.
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