Plant Drops Labor Day For Muslim Holiday More Than Half Of Tyson Plant's Workforce Muslim August 1, 2008
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons.
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 granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant. Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays -- the same number as the old contract. Eid al-Fitr -- which falls on Oct. 1 this year -- marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Union leaders said 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. Nineteen-year plant veteran William Pentecost doesn’t agree with the decision. "I don’t think it's right. I really don't think it's right," he said. Tyson company spokeswoman Libby Lawson said by phone that, "This isn't a religious accommodation, this is a contractual agreement. The majority asked for it." The change didn’t bother some workers. "I think it's fine. I don’t have any problem with it. There's a whole bunch of them here, so they've got to do something for them," said worker John Smith. "It shouldn't happen. I mean, I think, we're in America, you're in America, I think that they should go with our holidays," Pentecost said. Channel 4's Cynthia Williams could not reach any of the plant’s Muslim workers, because Channel 4 News' crew was not permitted on the property. Former employee and Shelbyville resident Anthony Proctor said he thinks what's happening is wrong. He said he helped build a special Muslim prayer room that's located inside the plant and that no other Tyson facility has been that accommodating for any other religion. "If we want to go pray, we don’t have one for Christians," he said. Tyson is headquartered in Arkansas. Lawson said they consider religious accommodations on a case-by-case basis. She said that so far, no one has asked for any other type of religious prayer room. No one at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s regional office answered phone calls placed by Williams on Friday. A representative in New York said that no one there knew specifics about the new contract with the workers, but a person in research told Williams that holidays aren't usually replaced and are more likely to be added on. The decision will only apply to workers at the plant who are union members. All other employees at the plant will still have their normal Labor Day holiday.
They are slowly taking over our country....and we are letting them!!!!!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
That's what happens when we pay 'other people' to grow/pick/cook/clean/deliver etc our food........a city under seige always starves to death and eats it's young......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
That's what happens when we pay 'other people' to grow/pick/cook/clean/deliver etc our food........a city under seige always starves to death and eats it's young......
?????
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
That's what happens when we pay 'other people' to grow/pick/cook/clean/deliver etc our food........a city under seige always starves to death and eats it's young......
I sort of find this offensive. I'm a young white american male - who are "other people"? Do you mean other skin colors, other nationalities, other races?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I sort of find this offensive. I'm a young white american male - who are "other people"? Do you mean other skin colors, other nationalities, other races?
It wasn't meant to be offensive but to make us think......so----who here thinks getting rid of paid off labor day for a muslim holiday is okay??? And when I say 'other people', I'm calling us back to take the view we all seem to have of "illegal aliens"(other people) ie: lettuce pickers,,,,they dont care what holiday they get off and paid for......
as for "The Way We Were" I was referring to the Streisand song and our past 'real love affair' with being American and our Christian/Judaism foundations(not that they were the only force since our inception) but, they were the larger driving forces...... society makes it's government what it is....traditions always divide folks.......corporate 'purchases' of workers is also an influence......
we are who we are and I am who I am and you are who you are........but a rain drop in a pond does make a ripple effect...immediately seen or not.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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