Muslim workers fired - not cattle related topic

[colosteers]

DENVER (Reuters) - Meat processor JBS Swift & Co. has fired 130 Muslim workers after they refused to return to work in a dispute with the company over Ramadan fasting and meal breaks, company and union officials said on Thursday.

Manny Gonzales, spokesman for the United Food Workers Commercial Workers Local 7, said the employees were "unjustly terminated" from the meatpacker's plant in Greeley, Colorado, about 60 miles northeast of Denver.

"They (the workers) were not given adequate notice that they would be let go," Gonzales said. "We will file grievances for those who want their jobs back.

Swift, owned by Brazilian meat company JBS, the world's largest beef producer, had another dispute with Muslim workers last year at the company's Grand Island, Nebraska, plant. Several workers were fired after leaving their jobs to pray at sunset.

In announcing the firings, Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid said the company adjusted its meal breaks to help workers concerned about observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Those dismissed, she said, lost their jobs for violating a collective bargaining agreement, not because of their faith.

"JBS is grateful to employ a multicultural work force and works closely with all employees and their union representation to accommodate religious practices in a reasonable, safe and fair manner to all involved," she said.

The dispute began when 220 Muslim workers -- mostly immigrants of Somalia and other East African nations -- walked off the job this week after supervisors denied them a food break at sunset.

During Ramadan, devout Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

The workers were suspended for an "unauthorized work stoppage" and were told to return to the job or be fired, Smid said.

Despite the failure of negotiations between management and the union to resolve the dispute, some of the employees returned to work, but the 130 who did not were terminated.

Many of the African immigrants were hired at the plant after a 2006 raid by U.S. immigration authorities resulted in the detention of 1,300 Swift workers in six states. Most of those workers were Hispanics whom the government said were in the United States illegally.


Too follow up on this, last night on the news, there was a report about threatening propoganda left in the lunch room at swift.  It had references to the 9/11 ordeal, and behead anyone insulting alla.
I dont know why this has not made the National News
Have a good one

 

[BIGTEX]

If it had any merit the left would be all over it!

 

[knabe]

i'm pretty sure in america you can start your own business if you don't like your employer and compete with them.

the beheading issue is a request to revoke citizenship, which has precedent.

 

[cowz]

Last I heard, most packing plants run on a very organized schedule.

Most run 5-6 days per week, running 2-3 eight to twelve hour shifts.  All of the unionized meat cutting jobs pay very well, often more than college educated white collar jobs.

My point is....yes, it is a hard job, distasteful to most young Americans today.  But, since the beautiful thing is we have a choice to quit jobs that ask to much of our personal self.  This is why most protestants do not like to work on Sunday.  Seventh Day Adventists will not work on Saturday.

What ever happened to respecting what your employer asks of you.  Your work hours and expectations in a union setting are spelled out to you. 

I did a college internship in this plant....when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  During that time, if a floor worker quit, there were 5 more applications of people, regardless of ethnicity, who wanted that solid job with goofy hours, but good pay and benefits.

I hear Walmart is hiring greeters!   <hero>

Knabe....beheading in a packing plant?   ?????   Sounds like it's possible....The Godfather.Goodfellas, Jimmy Hoffa (ok, that was the teamsters, my bad)!!!!!!!!

 

[knabe]

they'll eventually win.

http://www.startribune.com/28119524.html

The federally mediated agreement is among the first in the nation that requires employers to accommodate the Islamic prayer schedule and the belief, held by many strict Muslims, that the Qur'an prohibits the touching and eating of pork products.


The settlement will include an undisclosed sum of money for some employees; and some workers may receive new offers of employment at Gold'n Plump.

The Work Connection, an employment agency based in St. Paul that hired workers for Gold'n Plump's plants in Cold Spring and Arcadia, was accused in the class-action lawsuit of requiring Muslim applicants for work to sign a "pork acknowledgement form," in which they agreed to handle pork products. It was alleged in the complaint that Somali workers who did not sign the document were not hired.

A spokeswoman for Gold'n Plump confirmed in a written statement that the company had reached a "global agreement in principle" to settle that and other claims and that a formal process must now begin to obtain final court approval for the settlement. Jeff Wold, vice president of the Work Connection, which is based in St. Paul, said his company "categorically denied all the allegations of discrimination" and was "happy to say that this case has been resolved."

Traditional practices

The settlement could have profound implications for the estimated 25,000 people of Somali descent in Minnesota, who began arriving in the Twin Cities in the late 1970s. Many have insisted on adhering to their traditional religious practices, such as praying five times a day or wearing headscarves, even when they conflict with workplace rules.

This spring, six Muslim women who worked at a Mission Foods tortilla factory in New Brighton said they were fired after they refused to wear a uniform that includes pants, which are considered men's clothing -- and improper -- in their home country.

The disputes have ignited debates about whether employers were targeting Muslims, or whether the workers were making unreasonable demands.

The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 says employers must accommodate workers' religious beliefs, so long as the requests are "reasonable" and do not create "undue hardship" for the employer.

But the vague wording of the act has left a lot of room for interpretation; and some employers, particularly manufacturers, have argued that frequent prayer breaks disrupt work flow and reduce productivity.

Snodgrass, the attorney representing the nine Somali workers, said there is some flexibility within the Islamic prayer schedule. In some cases, the windows for praying can extend several hours; and frequently the prayers last no longer than a bathroom break. He noted that the United States legal system has long accommodated the demands of Christians.

"There is a reason why your children have never gone to school on Christmas or Easter, and yet Muslim children go to school on the final day of Ramadan," said Snodgrass. "What this case does is highlight that, for a minority, no matter how unpopular or popular they are, there has to be accommodations if they are reasonable and practical."
___

this case won't have profound implications for muslims, it will have profound implications for americans.  we have to accomodate them, but they don't have to accomodate us.  where is the ACLU when you need them?  perhaps its because their stated goal by their founder is to destroy america?

The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 says employers must accommodate workers’ religious beliefs, so long as the requests are “reasonable” and do not create “undue hardship” for the employer.

this is the REAL consequence of allowing progressive judges to the bench, the disappearance of america.  sounds like one could get away with an awful lot with incremental reasonableness as long as it is as slow as necesary.  one day america will wake up and they won't wake up.

 

[Doc]

  Where does it stop?  I understand that not touching pork is against their beliefs, but that's like me taking a job at a gas station to pump gas & expect the owner to hire someone extra to check the oil because I'm afraid I'll get some on my hands. I started to say you can't have it both ways , but obviously you can.

 

[knabe]

they can have it both ways, you can't.  society will be further and further partitioned as we rush to bring in cultural differences who are rewarded for not assimilating to a commerce skewed society from a religious skewed one.  diverstiy is not the strength of america, melting is.

for the life of me, i can't see why liberals don't see this isn't the same as banning god everywhere they can.  it's imposing anything but god everywhere they can.  their penchant to ban and impose is far more energenic than the other side they so despise.

it stops when liberal judges are replaced.  no sooner.

 

[Jill]

That is an absolute CROC!  Why go to work in a packing plant if it is against your beliefs, find another job!