Bailey comment: I think this is a bunch of Chicken S##t!
Workers at a Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Tennessee have
opted to trade a paid Labor Day holiday for the Muslim celebration of
Eid al-Fitr.
A 5-year contract approved by members of the Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store Union at the Shelbyville, Tenn., plant last
November includes the change to accommodate Muslim workers.
"The negotiating committee made the holiday a top priority in
contract talks," the union's Alabama and Mid-South Council
Representative Randy Hadley said in a statement issued in June. "And we
were able to get management to commit to it."
The change, which does not affect the company's 118 other
plants, exchanges Labor Day for the Muslim holiday that marks the end of
Ramadan. The new contract, negotiated last fall, also gives Muslim
workers a prayer room.
"Eid al-Fitr is one of eight paid holidays for all team
members covered by the contract, while Labor Day is not a paid holiday,"
Gary Mickelson, Tyson's media relations director, told the Shelbyville
Times-Gazette.
But Tyson spokeswoman Libby Lawson told FOXNews.com that
employees who are not a member of the union at that plant would still be
eligible for Labor Day as a paid holiday.
The seven additional paid holidays are the employee's
birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mickelson said.
"Given the nature of our work, many, many, many times we have
to work holidays anyway, and Labor Day is usually one of those holidays
that our workers have to work," Lawson said. "And, of course, they are
paid holiday pay when they have to work any holiday that is recognized
at our facility."
Tyson officials said that approximately 250 of the plant's
1,200 employees are Somalis who entered the United States as political
refugees. Most, if not all, are believed to be Muslim — among them,
Abdillahi Jama.
"This new contract is good because it allows me to work on the
second shift and still pray when I need to," Jama said in the union's
press release. "It’s very important to us, and the Eid is one of our
most sacred holidays. It shows how the union helps us."
Lawson said that the Shelbyville plant is one of a handful
that have designated prayer areas that can be used by groups of all
faiths.
News of the holiday change has prompted some anger on local
Web message boards, with some writings urging readers to contact the
AFL-CIO and boycott Tyson products.
The union's national president, Stuart Appelbaum, said it is
the union's job "to stand up to win respect for every worker's right to
practice their faith."
Tyson officials said the contract was agreed to by 80 percent of the union's 1,000 members at the plant.
This year Eid al-Fitr falls on Oct. 1.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
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