Thursday, February 16, a nationwide protest occurred which was dubbed "A Day Without Immigrants." The protest involved participants skipping work to show the economic value held by immigrants in this country. There were also marches showing support for immigrants and against Trump's strict immigration policy. With so many people skipping work nationwide, some problems arose, as many people were fired for missing. Their bosses feel no remorse, claiming that those who's positions were terminated "had it coming," and that they had either received warning when they had asked to skip or that they had gone against the company's rules by not letting their boss know about their absence.
In my opinion, the termination of these employees is unjust, as they were exercising their first amendment right to gather and right of free speech. While their bosses' opinions are understandable and they claim that they were not influenced by politics, firing these employees has made them look bad to the public eye. Though they claim to be on the immigrants' side, they have done everything to prove the opposite. Overlooking the minor offense of skipping one day of work with a known cause would have been a perfect way to show their claimed support. They let the extreme capitalist culture in america influence them, just as many have in the industrial revolution, the gilded age, the progressive era (which was aimed at reversing unjust actions like this in order to protect laborers), and so on. America also remains one of the few developed countries that does not have a required, paid maternity leave due to its capitalist values, demonstrating that overall the US values money more than its people.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/20/us/workers-fired-day-without-immigrants/index.html
The mention of America caring more for money than the people making the money possible was a great point. Seeing how other countries handle things like maternity leave gives perspective towards how we could better our values.
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