Palestinian workers protest at Apple Store after being unfairly fired



On Saturday, April 6, 2024 (local time), a demonstration took place at an Apple Store in Chicago, Illinois, USA, forcing the store to close early. The cause of the demonstration was the unfair dismissal of a Palestinian employee who worked at the store.

Chicago Apple Store closes early amid labor and ethnic disputes
https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/04/07/protesters-close-chicago-apple-store-over-palestinian-employee-firing



The protest was carried out by Apples4Ceasefire, a protest group of about 300 people made up of Apple employees and former employees. On April 6, members of the group visited the store and demonstrated, disrupting business, forcing the store to close early. Although police were called in, the protest itself was peaceful and no shots were fired.

Apples4Ceasefire issued a statement saying, 'In fact, anyone who expresses support for the Palestinians through kaffiyah pins, bracelets, clothing, etc., is being punished by Apple for violating trade practices and creating a harmful environment,' claiming that employees who express support for Palestine are being treated unfairly by Apple.

The cause of the demonstration was that a former employee of the store, Medley Espinoza, was wearing a kaffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian dress. When Espinoza asked his superiors about wearing the kaffiyeh, he was told not to wear it.

So, after getting permission from their managers, Espinoza, along with about 40 other employees who were wearing similar accessories, began wearing other accessories to show support for Palestine. However, Espinoza was fired by Apple.

The video below was taken during a demonstration at an Apple Store on April 6th.




'We are disappointed and shocked by Apple's lack of consideration and understanding towards our team members, the Palestinian people, as well as the Palestinian community suffering overseas in Gaza,' Apples4Ceasefire said in a statement.

In addition to protesting the firings, Apples4Ceasefire is calling on Apple to end its activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rare earths and other materials are mined, and has also written a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook calling on him to acknowledge the deaths of civilians in Gaza.

A group of Google employees also protested in March 2024, demanding an end to funding for an Israeli tech conference in New York, USA, and a Google Cloud engineer was fired in response to the demonstrations.

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in Note,   Video, Posted by logu_ii