What is there to say? I’m going to stop purchasing Tyson Foods. There are plenty of other choices and this is just ridiculous.
From OneNewsNow:
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be given the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr as a holiday.
According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new 5-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate the hundreds of Somali Muslims who work at the plant .
Eid al-Fitr — which falls on Oct. 1 this year — marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Union leaders say implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people.
The Shelbyville Times-Gazette newspaper quotes union spokesman Randy Hadley as saying the negotiating team felt this change was “extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians.”
The newspaper also quotes the union as saying two prayer rooms have been created at the Shelbyville Tyson Foods’ plant ” to allow Muslim workers to pray twice a day and return to work without leaving the plant.”
So, what about the 500 other employees who aren’t Muslim? Do they no longer get Labor Day? Also, do the 2 prayers a day count as their breaks, or is this in addition to?
My friend Velvet has blogged on this too.
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Tammi
Thanks for the link!
Just to let you know I have updated today with a link to Maggie’s Notebook. She reports on a Tyson - Latent Tuberculosis Connection.
Velvet Hammer’s last blog post..Blogs 4 Borders Blogburst! - August 4 2008
You know what, the majority of Atheists don’t complain when Easter and Christmas come around. Why are you flipping out over a company catering to the majority of its employees? I guess we should make all those dirty scary Muslims stay out of sight so we can feel less terrorized, right?
Hahaha… Russell, you crack me up.
First of all, no one is saying that Muslims ought not be able to practice their religion and celebrate their holidays, or that they ought to “stay out of sight”. The issue at hand is a company (that is not predominantly Muslim) capitulating to demands that are not in the best interest of its employees. Labor Day is a traditional work holiday in the United States, as opposed to Ein al-Fitr.
In the same way that atheists can choose to boycott a business/organization based on its values and practices, Christians or conservatives have the right to boycott Tyson if we so choose.
tieki rae’s last blog post..What’s New in the Pro-Life World
I created a little, ummmm… “image” for my upper sidebar that conveys my regard for Tyson from here forth.
Not a penny, for anything they ever sell, ever again! I can never become that hungry or depraved.
Gee, looking at the numbers, here. If the proportion of Muslim workers at this plant are that high, does being non Mulsim in Shellbyville make you a minority?
If so, WOW - indeed.
Another thing, isn’t Labor Day a national holiday? It’s not a local or state thing. Try leaving the plant open on Christmas Day! I wonder how many of the 500 or so employess left would bother to show up.