Restaurant Staff Fired For Joining Strike
The owner fired employees via text messages
While chefs and restaurant owners like José Andrés and Mario Batali stood with immigrant employees last Thursday as they joined the Day Without Immigrants protest, a restaurant owner in Catoosa, Oklahoma, took the opposite approach. Bill McNally, who owns I Don't Care Bar and Grill (yes, that's the restaurant's real name), fired 12 staffers who joined the protest, KTUL, an ABC affiliate in Tulsa, reports.
The firing was done via text messages that ended with the line, "You and your family are fired. I hope you enjoyed your day off, and you can enjoy many more. Love you."
What this text means for former employees at a restaurant in #Catoosa coming up at 6 on @KTULNews pic.twitter.com/WaMLt9znAA
— Ethan Hutchins (@ethanahutchins) February 17, 2017
Shortly after, McNally posted a want ad on the restaurant's Facebook page.
The employees, some of whom worked at the restaurant since it opened two years ago, say they anticipated being reprimanded for not working but were surprised to be fired. McNally explains in a statement that he has a "zero tolerance policy for no show/no call incidents and the 12 employees violated that policy."
Learning of the news, people on both sides of the issue have taken to posting on the restaurant's Yelp page supporting or trashing the restaurant's actions.
Elsewhere around the country, employees at businesses like a boat manufacturing company and a commercial painting operation have reported being fired for joining the protest.