Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day for Muslim Holiday

[Old Wizard]

Having worked in the engineering field in Canada and the US [mostly Petrochemical projects], anytime there was a project involving a Muslim country, provision of a prayer room was part of the project contract. That's been happening for years.

 

[syscom3]

Nothing like walking into a washroom and seeing somebody perched on top of the sink...

I saw that once in a strip club in Vegas. Good looking woman but her boyfriend looked creepy.

8)

 

[javlin]

Boy PB just roll over and lay then,Labour Day is indiscriminit no religion involved there.The country was founded on Christian values with the religious freedom involved.Trust me PB my employer gives me no special consideration's for Sunday if I do not like it find another job!No special pray rooms,no day off, they may work around it some but no guarantee.Trust me little working with me just comes with the territory and if the territory is to much will go elsewhere.

 

[Freebird]

Boy PB just roll over and lay then,Labour Day is indiscriminit no religion involved there.The country was founded on Christian values with the religious freedom involved.

Yes and one of the founding values was toleration of different religions....

I agree with Pb, tell the employees that they have x number of holiday days, pick which ones they want. The plant in question is a shift place, they should have enough workers to give the Muslims their day off, let the Christians take Good Friday or Lent or whatever, give the Jews Yom kippur, give the druids the Vernal Equinox and so on.

 

[javlin]

Yes and one of the founding values was toleration of different religions....

I agree with Pb, tell the employees that they have x number of holiday days, pick which ones they want. The plant in question is a shift place, they should have enough workers to give the Muslims their day off, let the Christians take Good Friday or Lent or whatever, give the Jews Yom kippur, give the druids the Vernal Equinox and so on.

I did not see were PB actually said what you just said but that might be agreeable but it still remains a fact that other religions do not have theres.

 

[pbfoot]

I did not see were PB actually said what you just said but that might be agreeable but it still remains a fact that other religions do not have theres.

Thats because I didn't have to say it if you read the article

 

[Freebird]

I did not see were PB actually said what you just said but that might be agreeable but it still remains a fact that other religions do not have theres.

I can't see what the big deal is . Isn't that one of the 4 freedoms that were exhaulted in WW2 by the US the freedom of worship , yes it irks me that i might not be granted the same rights in their lands but I also believe you guys are stronger and more tolerant then some mullah in Tehran and that is what many of you call a stength of the US . Freedom .

That's the part I was referring to. As long as the company is reasonable with requests for days off, {as Syscom3 posted} there should not be a problem. Now if they were to refuse requests from others for days of on Jewish or Christian holidays, then there is a problem!

 

[ToughOmbre]

Update! They have come back to their senses!

Tyson Plant Adds Muslim Holiday, Keeps Labor Day

Fri Aug 8, 5:16 PM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Union workers and officials at a Tyson Foods plant in Tennessee said Friday they have agreed to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday, and the plant will also observe the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr this year.

Tyson had previously agreed to drop Labor Day and substitute the Muslim holiday as part of a new 5-year contract to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant in Shelbyville, which is about 50 miles south of Nashville. The decision sparked widespread criticism, from local politicians to talk radio to the Internet.

The Springdale, Ark.-based company said it requested reinstating Labor Day after complaints from plant workers and the public.

Union members voted Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant's paid holidays and keep Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. For the remainder of the contract, workers will have Labor Day and a personal holiday, which can be used to observe Eid al-Fitr or another day the employee's supervisor approves.

Union officials have said at least a couple hundred of the 1,200 plant workers are Muslim.

Eid al-Fitr — which falls on Oct. 1 this year — marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Muslim civil rights advocates criticized Tyson Foods, and a union official said the company's response was disingenuous.

"This wasn't something imposed. It seems that this backtracking would be the result of the backlash from anti-Muslim hate (Web) sites and Islamophobes on the Internet," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for Washington D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the union headquartered in New York, said he was surprised by the reaction to the holiday change.

"I would have thought that people would have been more sensitive and sympathetic to the concern to the members of our community, who want to celebrate their religious faith," he said. "It's a little disingenuous to say that they (Tyson) were responding to employee concerns. The proposal came from workers themselves."

Tyson's previous decision to drop Labor Day as a paid holiday drew intense scrutiny. In a letter to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette newspaper published Thursday, the local mayor and other state elected leaders said substituting Labor Day "for a nontraditional holiday is unacceptable."

"For over a hundred years, Labor Day has stood as a symbol to honor the working men and women of this country. But for the past few years traditions like Labor Day have been under attack. This time it's gone too far and we, as patriotic Americans, must draw our line in the sand," the letter said states.

Requests for workplace accommodations of Muslim religious obligations have become common around the country, say Muslim advocates.

In 2005, 30 workers walked off the job at a Dell Inc. plant in Nashville after alleging the company refused to let them pray at sunset.

Last year, dozens of Somali meatpacking workers at a Nebraska plant quit their jobs because they were not given enough time off for Muslim prayers, though they eventually returned to work at the Swift Co. plant.

TO

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

You see that is acceptable. Keep Labor Day and add the Muslim Holiday.

I do no have a problem with that. I am all for freedom of religion and allowing people to practice their religion, as long as you keep it fair. Us Christians have Christmas, the Muslims can have their holiday as well.

 

[Matt308]

I think everyone should suck back and reload if you read the item they are swapping labour day for the highest religious holiday in the Islamic calender I can't see what the big deal is . Isn't that one of the 4 freedoms that were exhaulted in WW2 by the US the freedom of worship , yes it irks me that i might not be granted the same rights in their lands but I also believe you guys are stronger and more tolerant then some mullah in Tehran and that is what many of you call a stength of the US . Freedom .
If you like i can take you to golf courses here that were built by thr Jewish folks of Buffalo because they were not allowed to golf on the Buffalo courses and it wasn't as long ago as you might think

Easy, Pb. I read that the union backtracked. INSTEAD of removing labour day, they now are going to reinstate it and allow a personal holiday (for everyone). My understanding is that the original agreement would only last for 1 year and has been overidden by both Tyson and the Union.

And with respect to sinks, I don't care if some washes their feet in the same sink I blow snot rockets, wipe the feces off my hands or remove my scrotum residue. Eff em. But if you ask me to build them a sink that I can't do same then thems fighting words. Build your own damn foot washing facility and not on public property, time nor resources.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Besides before this compromise, which is okay, the issue was the fact that they were taking a holiday away from everyone and giving one only to the Muslims. That is why it was wrong.

 

[Matt308]

Yep. Well, not if the stupid union voted for it. Then its only wrong if you are union member and the majority didn't support it. You join a union, you get what you deserve.

[oh sorry did my true colors come through? those were inside words]