Employees who ignored clear directive not to wear pro-Palestinian attire at work were fired.
By World Israel News Staff
Apple employees are planning a mass protest at one of the tech titan’s retail locations in Chicago, after workers were reportedly fired for wearing pro-Palestinian clothing and symbols on the job.
According to an open letter signed by some 300 former and current Apple employees, the corporation immediately expressed to them after the October 7th massacres that open support for the Palestinian cause would not be tolerated at their stores.
Workers were explicitly told not to wear keffiyehs, pins, bracelets, or display pro-Hamas support via their clothing, as doing so would constitute “breaking business conduct” and create a “harmful environment,” the employees, calling themselves Apples4Ceasefire, claimed.
Those who ignored the directive were fired, which Apples4Ceasefire characterized as “wrongful termination.”
Apples4Ceasefire went on to accuse Apple of being “complicit in this horrific genocide” and demanded that the company condemn Israel for the ongoing fighting.
A California-based Apple employee, who works in a corporate setting, complained to Wired that he was told not to wear a keffiyeh in the office.
“I was wearing my keffiyeh, and I was told by my market leader and Human Resources that I was not allowed to wear my cultural garment at all, and it was not safe to wear due to the political stance and climate that it addresses,” they said.
Apples4Ceasefire said that they are organizing a protest outside of Apple’s Lincoln Park location in Chicago, after an employee was terminated for repeatedly wearing pro-Palestinian items.
The employee, named Madly Espinoza, said she had been asked to stop wearing a keffiyeh while at work. She then wore pro-Palestinian jewelry, with messages such as “Free Gaza.”
Several weeks later, she was fired. Espinoza claims that management verbally told her that her attire at work was “too political” and that she had created an environment which some customers and coworkers felt was hostile.