Colorado meatpacking plant - Muslim workers dispute over Ramadan
2008-09-13 06:36:34 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Business News)
Aurora, Colorado, (CaymanMama.com) — Religion is always the subject of controversy and discrimination between American factories and Muslim workers. During the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, a strict schedule of prayers is laid out and workers are unable to eat or drink until the last prayer of the day which begins at sunset.
For a Colorado meatpacking plant located in Greeley, Muslim workers have taken matters into their own hands claiming that the company refused to allow their breaks to coincide with their sunset prayer. A spokesman at a D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said that although tensions resulting from Ramadan is nothing new, he has never seen a dispute become as escalated as the one taking place at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.
According to the Associated Press, 220 Somali workers protested in the form of a walk-out during their evening shift on September 5th. CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said, “You can’t really say, `Well I’ll delay it for an hour and do it then.’ You have a very narrow window of opportunity.”
Tamara Smid, a spokesperson from Swift, said that 101 factory workers were terminated however, a spokesperson for the United Food and Commerical Workers Local 7 said that the number was more like 150 as per the statements from workers to union officials. The spokesperson also that plans to file grievances were in the works on behalf of the Muslim factory workers though some of them have already begun seeking employment elsewhere.
The Muslim workers who have opted to stay at Swift have involved Chicago attorneys to act as mediators and are prepared to take legal action though they all hope that it will not escalate to that point. “Really, you don’t need attorneys in these cases,” Hooper said. “You just need a spirit of good will and cooperation.”
Smid said the plant had altered the timing of workers’ lunch schedules by more than an hour to assist with the worker’s prayer schedule. She added that the assembly line usually takes a break at 9 p.m., and that schedule was changed to 8 p.m. Smid also noted that the factory workers who were issued a suspension for the walk out were informed that if they did not return to work the following day they would be terminated.
One of the fired workers told the Associated Press that those who still have jobs at Swift are banding together to aid the workers who were fired if they need money to pay rent.
The end of Ramadan falls on October 1st.
CaymanMama.com - Press Release Distribution Service
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