Since Trump has taken office, the United States has seen a massive rise in the amount of protests taking place across the country. The success of the Women's March on Washington has inspired many other groups to take to the streets. A Day Without Immigrants took place on February 16th with the goal of protesting Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican-U.S. border and potentially deport millions of Immigrant workers. This protest was meant to show the current administration the importance of immigrant labor. While some businesses shut down in order to stand in solidarity with their employees, others did not take lightly to the absence of their employees.
No shows
Several businesses fired their employees who skipped work to participate in the protest. One of these businesses was JVS Masonry, founded by Jim Serowski in Commerce City, Colorado. Serowski laid off 30 workers after they did not show up for work on Thursday. He stated that the workers were warned that if they skipped out on work they would be fired. He stood by his word insisting that this decision was not due to politics. "If you do this you're hurting the company, and if you go against the team you're not a member of the team," Serowski said in an interview with CNN. Some of the masonry employee have been with the company for over 20 years. Serowski said that not showing up for work was like a slap in the face, and he responded accordingly.
The I Don't Care Bar & Grill also fired several line cooks who failed to show up for work that day. Owner Bill McNally said that his employees gave no warning and did not call to say that they would be missing work. As a result, they were promptly fired.
The Year of the Protester
With millions of Americans left unhappy and very worried about the current administration, it's no surprise that more protests are yet to come.
The next highly anticipated protest of the season will be the People's Climate March, which is set for April 29th. Trump has made the National Parks Service and the Environmental Protection Agency primary targets during his first few weeks as sitting President. He has stripped them of government grants, replaced department heads, and even issued gag orders.
Conservationists and scientists are concerned for the future of the National Parks and the Endangered Species Act. The People's Climate March is meant to bring more attention to the concerns of conservation and climate change. Time will tell if Trump listens to the concerns of the people or not.
