Facebook Gives Staff Day Off To Join May 1 Anti-Trump Protests

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Facebook is allowing its employees time off work to join pro-immigrant protests planned for International Workers’ Day on May 1.

Facebook Inc. will not tolerate contractors penalizing employees who skip work that day.

The company said it will investigate if any of its vendors infringe on their employees’ First Amendment rights.

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Daily Mail reports:

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The company made the announcement at an internal forum on April 14.

‘At Facebook, we’re committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where employees feel comfortable expressing their opinions and speaking up,’ a spokesman wrote in a statement, according to Bloomberg. ‘We support our people in recognizing International Workers’ Day and other efforts to raise awareness for safe and equitable employment conditions.’

Employees who wish to skip work to join the protests won’t even need to notify the company ahead of time, Facebook said.

The company also said that it will re-evaluate their business ties with contractors – who staff janitors, drivers and other workers at Facebook – who punish their employees for joining the demonstrations.

‘It’s important not just to the engineers and H-1B holders that are traditionally thought of as the immigrants in tech but also to folks who are subcontracted but work side-by-side on those campuses,’ Derecka Mehrens, co-founder of Silicon Valley Rising, a union-backed coalition, said. ‘Immigrants play a critical role in the tech sector – both as engineers and coders but also in keeping tech campuses running smoothly.’

Facebook was one of many tech companies that spoke out against Trump when he tried to institute a travel ban on several Muslim countries.

Rumors have been circulating that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is considering a run for the White House as a Democrat.