The Lincoln Park Apple Store in Chicago was forced to shut down prematurely on Saturday due to a protest by a group of demonstrators. The protest was aimed at Apple Inc.‘s AAPL labor practices in Africa and the alleged discriminatory treatment of an employee advocating for Palestinian causes.
What Happened: As reported by AppleInsider, the demonstration was orchestrated by a group known as Apples4Ceasefire, which is believed to comprise approximately 300 current and former Apple Inc. AAPL employees. The group asserts that a Palestinian employee was unfairly dismissed for donning accessories that expressed support for the Palestinian people, such as the traditional keffiyeh.
In an open letter titled Apples4Ceasefire, the group expressed their dismay and surprise at “the lack of care and understanding this company has given the Palestinian community, not only abroad suffering in Gaza, but also towards our own team members and anyone who supports them within our stores and offices.”
The protest was triggered by the termination of former Lincoln Park store employee Madly Espinoza. She was granted permission to wear a keffiyeh at work. However, as the conflict in Gaza escalated, she was instructed to stop wearing it. Espinoza then switched to wearing pro-Palestinian jewelry, along with about 40 other employees, but she was subsequently fired, and the others were reprimanded for being “too political.”
Besides protesting Espinoza’s dismissal, the protesters also demanded that Apple withdraw from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some rare earth and other materials are mined. The group published a letter requesting CEO Tim Cook to recognize the deaths of civilians in Gaza, as he did in a letter to employees about Israeli deaths after the initial Hamas attack.
Why It Matters: This protest comes amid increasing tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict. This incident highlights the challenges companies face in navigating political activism within their workforce, as noted by Euronews.
President Joe Biden called for an immediate ceasefire in the ongoing Gaza war, signaling a potential shift in U.S. policy. Meanwhile, Apple had previously halted its internal Slack channels for Muslim and Jewish employees after removing posts related to the conflict.
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