Dec 31, 2019

Trump Winery fires 7 undocumented workers a year after Washington Post report

Fadel Allassan

Trump Winery. Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Supervisors at Trump Winery in Charlottesville, Va., fired at least seven undocumented workers on Monday because of their immigration status, nearly a year after it was revealed they work there, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: Two of the fired workers told the Post they thought the company waited until after the yearly grape harvest to take advantage of them during the busy season, which involved 60-hour weeks and overnight shifts.

  • The firings came about 11 months after the Trump Organization first began firing undocumented workers at its various properties, per the Post.
  • “They didn’t make this decision in the summer because they needed us a lot then,” said Omar Miranda, one of the fired employees.

What they're saying: “He waits until the fields are tended, grapes picked, wine made. He then discards them like a used paper bag. Happy New Year. You’re fired," Anibal Romero, an immigration lawyer who represents a number of Trump's undocumented former employees, told the Post.

  • The Trump Organization did not provide the Post with a comment about the firings.

Go deeper: Trump Organization under investigation for not paying undocumented workers

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Ina Fried

Google and Amazon employees claim to face retribution for decrying corporate moves

Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

New incidents are highlighting deepening tensions between tech giants and worker activists as employees and former workers at Amazon, Google and other companies publicly decry corporate moves.

Why it matters: These companies are struggling to reconcile idealistic images and rosy reputations with the more hard-nosed tactics big companies frequently adopt to discourage protests and labor organizing.

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Rashaan Ayesh

Railroads cut workers as industry automates, implements cost-cutting strategies

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

More than 20,000 workers in the railroad industry lost jobs this past year, even as the U.S. economy continued its streak of moderate growth, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Those numbers represent the biggest round of layoffs in the sector since the Great Recession — nearly a 10% drop in rail employment, per Labor Department data. Changes in the rail industry highlight signs of "ongoing pain" in the industrial sector, threatening middle-class jobs, the Post writes.

Go deeperArrowJan 4, 2020
Rashaan Ayesh

Women's March on Washington expects historically low turnout

The 2019 Women's March. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Organizers are expecting record-low turnout for the fourth annual Women's March on Washington, scheduled for Saturday, the Washington Post reports.

By the numbers: A permit issued by the National Park Service indicates the event's coordinators expect between 3,000 and 10,000 participants, making it the lowest attendance since the event's launch in 2017. Nearly 100,000 participants took part in D.C's Women's March last year, the Post notes.

Go deeperArrowJan 17, 2020