2 workers suspended after 'Day Without Immigrants'
RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- One day after a massive nationwide protest against immigration policies out of the Trump Administration, some of those who participated are finding themselves in trouble with employers.
Organizers for "A Day without Immigrants" urged immigrants across the U.S. to miss work, class and to not shop on Thursday. This was in an effort to show how important they are to the economy.
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Two workers at a packaging warehouse in Burlington said they were suspended for two days for participating. They said they also felt threatened by a robo-call message that went out the day before from the temp agency that placed them.
That temp agency is Key Resources Inc. The company is based out of Greensboro.
When ABC11 reached out to the company with employee concerns, spokesperson and Vice President of Operations David Garrison confirmed the message went out but said he feels awful that anyone took the message as threatening.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE PHONE MESSAGE HERE (.pdf)
He said they decided to send the more-than-minute-long message because of concerns they were hearing from their clients, worried about workers missing a day.
Garrison also issued a statement.
"Key Resources Inc. merely supplies temporaries to employers. The message sent communicated the concern of Key Resources regarding the client's likely reaction to a missed day of work. All a temporary staffing company can do is fill temporary employment needs. We don't make the hiring and termination decisions. The client does. In an effort to avoid a negative reaction from the client to a missed day of work we sent the message. The message sent was a positive message, stating what could likely happen because the client business cannot be shut down when employees stay out of work. Key Resources clearly wants people to work and earn income. We will continue to take steps to achieve that goal."
Outside of businesses schools also noticed absences on Thursday.
A spokesperson for Wake County schools couldn't provide overall attendance numbers for Thursday but said some schools saw a significant impact on attendance while others saw a small change.
RELATED: 'DAY WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS' PROTESTS IN TRIANGLE, ACROSS US
They said Hodge Road Elementary was one school that saw that significant impact.
"They normally have about 650 students," said spokesperson Lisa Luten. "Yesterday, about 290 were not in class."
Johnston County Public Schools also reported seeing a variation in attendance across the county.
"Johnston County Public Schools showed an absentee percentage of 13.91 percent yesterday for students in K-8," said Tracey Peedin Jones, the public information officer for the school system. "In comparison, the absentee percentage was 6.18 percent for this same group the day before."
Durham Public Schools provided a breakdown of absences school by school:
SEE THE DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS ABSENCES LIST HERE (.pdf)
