An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Labor Day Back On The Calendar At Tyson
Tyson plant adds Muslim holiday, keeps Labor Day
Union workers and officials at a Tyson Foods plant in Tennessee said Friday they have agreed to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday, and the plant will also observe the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr this year.
Tyson had previously agreed to drop Labor Day and substitute the Muslim holiday as part of a new 5-year contract to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant in Shelbyville, which is about 50 miles south of Nashville. The decision sparked widespread criticism, from local politicians to talk radio to the Internet.
I wrote about this here, here, and here. Yeah, I’d say there was quite a bit of ‘widespread criticism’! Labor Day is a federal holiday.
The Springdale, Ark.-based company said it requested reinstating Labor Day after complaints from plant workers and the public.
Personally, I see Labor Day as nothing more than one of those ‘Monday holidays’ when I don’t get mail. I’m not a fan of unions, and never have been. However, labor is what built this country, and those who have contributed to its success should be honored.
Union members voted Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant’s paid holidays and keep Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. For the remainder of the contract, workers will have Labor Day and a personal holiday, which can be used to observe Eid al-Fitr or another day the employee’s supervisor approves.
Union officials have said at least a couple hundred of the 1,200 plant workers are Muslim.
How nice of them to ‘re-instate’ a FEDERAL HOLIDAY! Y’know, if this company wants to give their workers an extra paid holiday, that’s their business. Do ALL of the employees get the day off, with pay, or is it just the Muslims? According to previous reports, it was 700 plant workers. Now, it’s just a couple of hundred? Hmmm…..
Muslim civil rights advocates criticized Tyson Foods, and a union official said the company’s response was disingenuous.
“This wasn’t something imposed. It seems that this backtracking would be the result of the backlash from anti-Muslim hate (Web) sites and Islamophobes on the Internet,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for Washington D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
DAMN STRAIGHT! I’d really like to know why they believe the company was backtracking? Because they re-instated a FEDERAL holiday? How is that backtracking? I guess they believe that their MUSLIMS holidays should take precedence over the federal one? Yes, let’s cancel all federal holidays in favor of a murderous religion. I don’t bloody well think so! I’m not forcing you to celebrate Christmas, which is also a federal law. If you get the day off, with pay, shut up!
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the union headquartered in New York, said he was surprised by the reaction to the holiday change.
Seriously? He was surprised by people’s reaction? I don’t suppose 9/11 has anything to do with the reaction, right? What planet does this yahoo live on anyway!?
“I would have thought that people would have been more sensitive and sympathetic to the concern to the members of our community, who want to celebrate their religious faith,” he said. “It’s a little disingenuous to say that they (Tyson) were responding to employee concerns. The proposal came from workers themselves.”
What’s the body count again thanks to the ‘sensitivity’ of Muslims?
Requests for workplace accommodations of Muslim religious obligations have become common around the country, say Muslim advocates.
In 2005, 30 workers walked off the job at a Dell Inc. plant in Nashville after alleging the company refused to let them pray at sunset.
Do Christians get to pray in the workplace? No, they don’t. All that “separation” stuff is ANTI Christian. When businesses start allowing Christians to have a room to pray in, I’ll start being a tad more ‘sensitive’.
Last year, dozens of Somali meatpacking workers at a Nebraska plant quit their jobs because they were not given enough time off for Muslim prayers, though they eventually returned to work at the Swift & Co. plant.
You are there to work. All this kowtowing to a specific religion, Islam, is what is putting the American people off. I’m pretty sure there are PLENTY of citizens who would love to have the jobs. Why not hire them?
Thanks for the Update: Posted updated info and proudly grabbed your great Islamophobic Badge for the update – linked back to your post.
http://arkansasgopwing.blogspot.com/2008/08/tyson-drops-labor-day-holiday-for-eid.html
@Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor:
Swipe away! Isn’t that what the blogosphere is for? Sharing info?
i would just like to say they have taken everything away frim my grandchildren because we hurt other people feelings we use to pray say the pledge to the flag we give everybody what they want except for the american people and we are suppose to just let it happen if we say anything we are mean dont like different races well its not that i dont like them but they need to go back where they came from that is why are young men are dieing know to keep the whole world free and we just keep letting them come in and we take care of them and rebuild there country WOULD THEY DO IT FOR US
@debra:
Welp, I have NO problem being mean. If by “mean”, I’m a flag waving, Bible praying American!
You’re right, they have stripped OUR rights in favor of sucking up to political correctness. When did it become more important to be civil, than moral???????