I actually saw this story trending Facebook first, but a story has now hit the front page of CNBC. Apparently a bunch of people just decided to not show up to work in order to protest and all got fired from it.
Restaurants and day cares were among the businesses in states like Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma and New York where bosses fired workers after they didn't show up for work in order to protest.In Nolensville, Tennessee, nearly 20 employees at Bradley Coatings, Incorporated — a commercial painting company — were laid off after participating in the nationwide strike on Thursday, NBC4 reported.
The company's attorney, Robert Peal, said in a statement obtained by the news station that all employees were told they risked termination if they skipped work on Thursday, but 18 did so anyway.
People seemed pretty divided on Facebook about the firings, what do you all think?
I think they did the right thing, assuming their employers were on the side acting against their interests and they did all they could to maximize the potential legal impact for firing them. The only way to get anything done in the US is to hit the people in control where it hurts- their wallets. Assuming these employees went about it the smart way (using personal/sick days), these companies likely exposed themselves to massive legal liabilities. Either way, the companies impacted will have to spend thousands hiring and training new employees, and probably losing really good people. My hope is that many of them do not go unemployed long, such that companies supporting their cause give the displaced preferential treatment, at least on a temporary employment basis.
Essentially, my opinion can be summed up as: good for them, because this form of protest is more powerful than the seemingly objective-less protests that were held as part of the series of women's marches by several orders of magnitude. It's a lot better to hurt the bad guys financially than it is to scream and shout and take selfies on TV.
One of the articles I read said that a restaurant had staff that just didn't call in whatsoever. Simply did not show up to their schedules shift. Probably not an issue to fire them flat out for that.
It's definitely unfortunate, as much as I want to say they deserve it they are likely not the most educated group. Not to mention they likely thought they were doing the right thing even in the face of threats of loosing their jobs. I typically love to jump straight to the they deserve it conclusion, but I can kind of see why there is some controversy in this situation.
Employment is at-will in the United States. You can fire an employee in most jurisdictions for any reason (not related to protected classes).
Employment at-will is mostly governed at the state level. See the listing here for states that have at-will employment. It also seems like a number (Washington and California especially) of Federal Circuit Appeals Courts have found unique ways to apply non-discrimination laws to recent policies, so I wouldn't be surprised if the existing rules are stretched further to pursue corporate actors terminating employees for exercising their freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.
Well, the way I see this:
1 - If the companies actually said the employees could not skip that determined work day, those who did went against a "policy"or "directive"and technically could be fired (assuming they were not using "personal days", "sick leave"or whatever).
2 - Depending on the type of work those guys won't be unemployed for long, as people hire immigrants either because of lower cost, or to cater to a determined population. This is always in high demand.
3 - Good luck for the companies who fired them, in searching for new employees and training them. This is always a cost.
4 - If by any chance those guys were illegal immigrants, they will probably quickly find other jobs, and those companies may end up exposing themselves for hiring undocumented workers. I am not familiar with the US labor guarantees for undocumented employees (if any), but even if employers get rid of civil suits, at the very least they expose themselves to tax charges.
I won't opine on whether companies should keep these guys or fire them, but maybe doing this quietly would be better.
"Opine" "Other - Auditor"
Yep checks out. (Ex-fellow auditor here)
LOL
Old habits die hard bro
So lets pick this apart.
1) This is a day without illegal immigrants. No where has Trump or any other Republican ever said they want to stop, remove or crack down on LEGAL immigration.
2) Illegals not showing up for their jobs should be reported to ICE and dealt with appropriately. Personally, I would love a list of places that employe illegal immigrants over Americans. As a good American I am happy to pay more for my meal or service as long as US citizens are employed.
3) This is being championed as a way of showing "all of us bigots" how vital illegal slave labor is to the functioning of our bougie service economy. I am sure southerners tried something similar with a day without slave labor to show those northerners how much they'd pay for cotton if they couldn't have slaves do it for room and board.
You see, this is the premise of the argument. Both sides are guilty btw. Republicans want slave labor and Democrats want blind minions to vote for them. But in reality, the only argument "who will do the job of illegals if they aren't around" is the same argument for all kids of human rights violations since time began.
Americans will do the jobs, but at a much higher wage and cost. This will increase the price of goods and services. Those goods and services with price elasticity will find demand dropping and will be forced out of business or to innovate. For articulated services (washing dishes, prep cooking, law services, etc) costs will increase. For manual labor (inarticulate stuff) you will see capex investments. If you think there aren't machines that can pick all kids of fruit and vegetables, you are nuts. It is just cheaper to pay illegals and offload their costs onto society (the same argument fair wage people use against WalMart) than to front the money and pay for John Deere equipment.
And once the capex is spent and the job is automate, there will be no demand for illegal labor, prices will decline,demand will increase and Democrats will no longer have a new voting block and Republicans will no longer have slave labor to keep wages down.
We need E Verify immediately and anyone employing someone that is not a US citizen needs devastating fines. Trump supporters should protest anyone hiring an illegal and shut their business down. Every restaurant hiring someone who isn't authorized to be in this country is stealing a job and income from some young kid who instead of working is selling drugs on the street.
I totally see your point.
My 2 cents on this:
1 - I didn't know whether this day without immigrants included legal ones as well. I'm not really looking into the details but at least what's being reported here is that, well, the Administration is against all kinds of immigration. Again, I'm not actively researching this, so...it was just a comment.
2 - I'll split this in two: (a) owners will not report their illegal employees to ICE, not because they care about them but because they will be afraid of being prosecuted as well. Hiring undocumented is a serious offense, and the government can charge them with offenses from tax evasion to money laundering and even human trafficking (I used to work for the US Consulate here, in the Regional Security Office and this was not unheard of). (b) This is a something I really would like to know - Whether US consumers would be willing to pay (possibly significantly) more for goods and services produced locally or only by citizens. We actually have this system here (with imports being subject to ridiculous %), which resulted in really expensive stuff in exchange of protecting what became a bunch of uncompetitive people (this is in place since the 50s). As a consumer, I can say it sucks - This is one of the motives why you'll see a lot of Brazilians shopping in Miami or NY. Not criticizing the choice, but I would really like to know how the US public sees this.
3 - This one is really long, so the only thing I'll say here is: E-verify should be rolled out considering payroll tax control as well, or at least pursue this way to enforce the law, it would probably get some very reasonable results.
Yeah, I mean if legal citizens want to take a day off in solidarity, ok, but I think the messaging is silly. IMO, this was supposed to show people what it is like without illegal immigrants. If legal ones want to take time off, OK, but kind of missing the point.
I just think it is sad how much citizens rally around people who are driving wages down and taking jobs from Americans, especially with so many out of work. It blows my mind that companies in the major cities are employing illegal labor when you have tons of unemployed young males that could do the job.
We should have a city and do an experiment. Lets test the market. See how much you have to pay people to do a job. I am sure you will find that these places could get Americans for only slightly more money. See, McDonalds is menial work and employs Americans because they cannot get away with the shit restaurants or law care companies can get away with. They always seemed to be staffed, albeit with not the most helpful people.
The logical leaps that people support illegal immigration with is always funny.
1) Who will do what they do? - Slavery Argument 2) Lettuce will be $20/head!!! - Slavery Argument 3) They pay taxes! They just use someone else's SS number - Fraud
Like Republicans suck ass, but at least they are real about it. Repubs have been fucking over American workers for ages now and their support of slavery, opps, I mean illegal immigration, is right in line with this. Democrats on the other hand are supposed to be the party of social rights, minorities, etc. Yet they support a policy that takes advantage of people and takes jobs/reduces wages for low income minorities that are unemployed. Pretty sick IMO.
Let me augment my post by saying I love Mexico (have traveled and continue to travel there) and think the USA and Mexico shares a special bond. Many of these illegal immigrants are not Mexican, but Central Americans escaping crime, poverty and warfare. We should have a multipronged attack and deport some, give amnesty to others, etc.
That being said, the US Government (as well as city and state governments) have an obligation to seek what is best for US citizens (I'd say tax payers, but that would exclude so many people). And illegal immigration costs time and money for schools and hospitals, while depressing wages and taking jobs from people who need work.
If you sent me back in time I wouldn't accept the bullshit slavery argument and in 2017 I am not going to accept the bullshit arguments were here now. Human rights and American rights, not the desire for cheap produce and low cost, bougie dinners.
It should have been called the day without illegal immigrants. My wife moved with her family to the states when she was 7. Her parents went from being engineers to meat packers and worked their way up, pursued more education and taught themselves -honestly the two smartest people I have met. They find calling illegal aliens 'immigrants' disgusting. If you want to be here you do it right.
Also, I used to volunteer at a place where we helped people become naturalized, learn English and basic math skills. Most of them were refugees and some just needed help with the test. You could tell they were motivated and actually did appreciate the country. They wanted to make the most out of their lives and realized these were the steps they needed to take. Another example is a friend of an ex. His parents crossed illegally when he was an infant, he grew up here and didn't find out he was illegal until he was 18. However, he loves the US and wanted to become a citizen. So he, out of respect for US laws, moved back to Mexico and started the process. Does it suck? Yes. Could reasonable laws be put place for people like him? Probably. But, instead of waiting for someone else to take action he handled it on his own.
Maybe people that actually want to become Americans are a rare breed, but I think because of them we need to enforce our laws.
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