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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.
1200 employees 700 Moslems, seems like a no brainer. They didn't eliminate a religious holiday celebrated by non Moslems, but a secular holiday. Seems ok to me. They probably had trouble operating the plant on a day that 700 people had a religious obligation anyway.
I wonder, will they, (or do they), give paid holidays for all other religious days represented by the religions of the other 500 employees, (which is, still, well over a third of their employee number)? And, I don't think we can count Christmas, since the majority of employers, across the country, seem to give a Christmas holiday, namely out of tradition, nowadays, than for any religious purposes. And, clearly, Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, (a Muslim holy month of fasting), is entirely religious.
And, a prayer room? According to the article, they are the only group with such a room devoted, entirely, to their spiritual needs. Do they utilize it five times a day? In all fairness, perhaps their religion does not require quite so many times of formal prayer, when at work, I really don't know, but they obviously require at least a few times of such prayer moments, or the room wouldn't be there, in the first place. Nonetheless, (also according to the article), Tyson doesn't have prayer rooms for their other employees. Yes, a spokesperson said that no one else has asked for such a privilege, but perhaps these others didn't feel that a company would be willing to accommodate such a request, (after all, how many people would actually think to ask, much less contract with, their employers for such a thing?). Yet, with 500 others, there's bound to be some Christians, Jews, and a variety of other beliefs, many of whom would undoubtedly like to have a special place, also.
I don't have a thing against Muslim folks, by any stretch. I simply find it peculiar that a company would single out one group for a special privilege of this sort, (contractually, or otherwise), even if one left the paid religious holiday out of the question. Perhaps the other 500 employees should demand prayer rooms of their own. I wonder if Tyson would accommodate them? One can only hope.
I wonder, will they, (or do they), give paid holidays for all other religious days represented by the religions of the other 500 employees, (which is, still, well over a third of their employee number)? And, I don't think we can count Christmas, since the majority of employers, across the country, seem to give a Christmas holiday, namely out of tradition, nowadays, than for any religious purposes. And, clearly, Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, (a Muslim holy month of fasting), is entirely religious.
And, a prayer room? According to the article, they are the only group with such a room devoted, entirely, to their spiritual needs. Do they utilize it five times a day? In all fairness, perhaps their religion does not require quite so many times of formal prayer, when at work, I really don't know, but they obviously require at least a few times of such prayer moments, or the room wouldn't be there, in the first place. Nonetheless, (also according to the article), Tyson doesn't have prayer rooms for their other employees. Yes, a spokesperson said that no one else has asked for such a privilege, but perhaps these others didn't feel that a company would be willing to accommodate such a request, (after all, how many people would actually think to ask, much less contract with, their employers for such a thing?). Yet, with 500 others, there's bound to be some Christians, Jews, and a variety of other beliefs, many of whom would undoubtedly like to have a special place, also.
I don't have a thing against Muslim folks, by any stretch. I simply find it peculiar that a company would single out one group for a special privilege of this sort, (contractually, or otherwise), even if one left the paid religious holiday out of the question. Perhaps the other 500 employees should demand prayer rooms of their own. I wonder if Tyson would accommodate them? One can only hope.
I think it was really more of a union thing. The majority of the union members wanted a prayer room as part of their contract. But here's where I begin to wonder (especially with our highly spun news media)... Something tells me that prayer room is not strictly for the Muslims only but for everyone and the news conveniently left that detail out and made it sound as if the Muslims were being strictly catered to. Why would that not surprise me?
As far as the paid holiday goes... I think everyone gets the paid holiday but it's just not on Veteran's Day anymore. As far as the way the media seems to have spun the story, in my opinion, I still can't say that I approve of a prayer room at work. In fact, I think it's ridiculous. Unless, of course, I could just say that I require at least 1 hour of prayer at work while lying down with my eyes closed in deep meditation...
I don't have a thing against Muslim folks, by any stretch. I simply find it peculiar that a company would single out one group for a special privilege of this sort, (contractually, or otherwise), even if one left the paid religious holiday out of the question. Perhaps the other 500 employees should demand prayer rooms of their own. I wonder if Tyson would accommodate them? One can only hope.
But its a Union contract. The Union voted. Those not in the Union get the regular holidays off..
I think it was really more of a union thing. The majority of the union members wanted a prayer room as part of their contract. But here's where I begin to wonder (especially with our highly spun news media)... Something tells me that prayer room is not strictly for the Muslims only but for everyone and the news conveniently left that detail out and made it sound as if the Muslims were being strictly catered to. Why would that not surprise me?
As far as the paid holiday goes... I think everyone gets the paid holiday but it's just not on Veteran's Day anymore. As far as the way the media seems to have spun the story, in my opinion, I still can't say that I approve of a prayer room at work. In fact, I think it's ridiculous. Unless, of course, I could just say that I require at least 1 hour of prayer at work while lying down with my eyes closed in deep meditation...
Granted, it is possible that the prayer room could be used by other employees, but unless it's specifically spelled out that way, we can only go by the news, as it's given to us. It would be nice to know the "rest of the story", though, if such were the case. However, they did quote the spokesperson, who purportedly said that no one else has such a room. Who knows? Sometimes I wonder why we even bother to read the news, since we can never be certain that we are getting the truth. At best, we get an embellished version. Which, of course, is a bit of an oxymoron, since embellished means we are not getting the truth, right? Goodness, such a philosophical conundrum!
Yes, everyone gets the paid holiday, (rather than Labor Day), but I still wonder if everyone gets paid holidays for all the other religious days represented by the other 500 employees?
On a personal level, I don't think a prayer room is necessary, either, (as someone who believes in God/Creator, as you know,). I don't believe that I need a special place to "get in touch". My point is mainly the idea that what's fair for one group is fair for another. Of course, on the other hand, you could get a lot of support for such a "prayer room", as you would "require".
Yes, everyone gets the paid holiday, (rather than Labor Day), but I still wonder if everyone gets paid holidays for all the other religious days represented by the other 500 employees?
Well the problem is you say Christmas doesn't count because everyone gives it off? So what you really want to know os of any non christian, non moslem, religious groups get a major feast day off? I don't know, but it seems to me that by giving the major feast days of the two major religions that make up the worker pool seems fair.
No even semi religious muslim would work on that day. It seems like it was a purely business decision on all parts. The union asked fort he day off most of the members wanted. The management probably decided that made business sense, rather than trying to run the plant that day with less than 50 % attendance
WAKE Up!!! our way of life is being eroded every day you cannot give special treatment to anyone we are under attack. Why isn't the ACLU screaming about this instead of attacking our NAVY over a noonday prayer, yikes ! We need to wake up or find ourselves abiding by Muslim laws. OMG
WAKE Up!!! our way of life is being eroded every day you cannot give special treatment to anyone we are under attack. Why isn't the ACLU screaming about this instead of attacking our NAVY over a noonday prayer, yikes ! We need to wake up or find ourselves abiding by Muslim laws. OMG
I'm glad to see religious tolerance and understanding is still doing well.
WAKE Up!!! our way of life is being eroded every day you cannot give special treatment to anyone we are under attack. Why isn't the ACLU screaming about this instead of attacking our NAVY over a noonday prayer, yikes ! We need to wake up or find ourselves abiding by Muslim laws. OMG
How is this special treatment? Most People don't work on Christmas Day, Or Easter Sunday. I Certainly don't. The one job I ever had where some people worked on Christmas, they made an effort to ask non Christians to work that day, so The rest of us could be home with our families. In return we would cover them on a day they needed off.
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