Could there be more tact and humor in expressing your mind, perhaps but again you did the right thing and trust me for a person like you there will be opportunities.
Defending dignity at 'all costs' makes it sound like you've never had to make a hard decision in your life. This is a case where the right move is to keep your head down, do the bare minimum, work on your portfolio on the side and bolt for a better job as soon as you can.
You can choose to put your own interests first by sticking around and not saying anything or those of your fellow workers by taking a stand. It's a question of values.
I agree with your spirit here, but solving this problem requires playing the long game.
I think the latter loss of dignity is greater than the former.
It sucks that companies can get away with all this but they have been that way for long. I am sincerely hoping you make it to a better job where they are 1.ethical and 2.don't want to lose you and you look back at this and shrug.
Well, isn't that what you tried to do, actually? After all, you did call them out in a public forum, and you're repeating your chosen themes here. Granted, they're bona fide idiots -- no argument there. But bona fide idiots are everywhere. So you smile, shrug, and go back to the $8/hr.-job that you need, or at least don't want to lose.
It sounds a little like you feel that you're entitled to something in some way. In theory, perhaps you are, but in reality the majority of the world gets bitch-slapped on a daily basis in one way or another, even (and sometimes especially) those you're sure are on top of it all. On one hand, you need that $8/hr., enough so that if you're fired, it's a real problem. You want to know if it's even legal! On the other hand, you're wanting to stand up for the dignity of your fellow workers against a management that, plainly from their behavior, could give a reverse flying shit. And they had the audacity to let you go?! Dude, seriously? Did you expect them to think about your point carefully, look at each other with chagrin, and then thank you for elevating the quality of the discourse?
If you need money, make money. Improve your situation and protect your baseline. That's the way you accumulate power. If you don't care about power (or security) and you just want to fight for what's right, then that's a valid choice and good for you, do that. But then expect what goes along with that.