[Rodeio]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397645,00.html

Let's discuss shall we?

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

Oh great! We aren't allowed to have prayer in schools or public meetings anymore but we can have a muslim holiday & prayer rooms at work. What bullshit!!!

[dani0303]

Not entirely true
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/tyson.asp

They gave Muslim employees at only 1 plant the option of taking either Eid El Fitr or Labor Day off. Also, this was from 2008...

[7HL]

Oh great! We aren't allowed to have prayer in schools or public meetings anymore but we can have a muslim holiday & prayer rooms at work. What bullshit!!!

What does schools have to do with a holiday at a poultry processing plant?You can pray at school all you want, just not as an organized school function. Kids have been praying to pass tests for years.

[ako]

Um, why NOT?? Why not show a little compassion for a religious group? In return they will likely get loyal employees. And, frankly, it's only fair. I mean, Christians get Christmas off, and Easter. Here in NY a lot of the Jewish holidays are observed or optional. My former UK office had a number of Muslims who would go off and pray at the requisite time. And - shock - it never bothered anybody. It's not as if it takes hours out of the day. It's probably a lot less disruptive than smoking! I do have to wonder why anybody would be so opposed to this. That potentially screams of an anti-Muslim bias. Please correct me if I'm wrong...

[Rodeio]

Oh for goodness sake, I missed the date on the article. My turkey induced coma is to blame. Still, a topic of discussion though.

[Calvincrowe]

Religious freedom means the right to practice your religion freely in this country. All religions. This topic was on NPR a few years back, old news. I have no problem with a business allowing their employees to have a choice in what holidays (holy days) they take off from work. And, news to some of the US--there was NEVER, EVER prayer in public schools. Any that occurred violated the Constitution and that's why it is "not allowed". Gosh, I wish Americans would quit cherry picking from the Constitution to fit their own needs.

[JER]

My turkey induced coma is to blame.

Really? I've eaten a good amount of turkey during my lifetime and never once has it turned me into an anti-Muslim bigot. Turkey doesn't make you go to Fox News and dredge up white Christian right-wing scare stories from 2008.

Maybe the Turkey Defense is the 2012 version of the Twinkie Defense?

(With Hostess threatening to shut its ovens for good, we'll have one less excuse for inexcusable behaviour.)

[pal-o-mino]

It is annoying when everybody wants what they want for their own personal gains and forgets about the good of the company or the country. I do get tired of hearing about this group wanting this or that. Nobody wants to assimilate. It's all about me, me, me. And heaven forbid anybody try to say they're offended about whatever me, me, me wants, cause they're going to be labeled a racist, meanie, butthead, you name it. Now the business owners of America have to be aware of the holidays (creeds, habits, etc) of 47 different religions, cultures, languages, persons, and hope he doesn't forget anything or he'll 'offend' someone and be sued for discrimination and out of business. It's ridiculous. Do your religious crap at home! Nobody gives a damn at work.

[Alagirl]

It is annoying when everybody wants what they want for their own personal gains and forgets about the good of the company or the country. I do get tired of hearing about this group wanting this or that. Nobody wants to assimilate. It's all about me, me, me. And heaven forbid anybody try to say they're offended about whatever me, me, me wants, cause they're going to be labeled a racist, meanie, butthead, you name it. Now the business owners of America have to be aware of the holidays (creeds, habits, etc) of 47 different religions, cultures, languages, persons, and hope he doesn't forget anything or he'll 'offend' someone and be sued for discrimination and out of business. It's ridiculous. Do your religious crap at home! Nobody gives a damn at work.

well, take a deep breath and think about it for a second:
if these fellows want to exchange a common holiday for an - for us - unusual one, seems pretty good business to me (aside from the fact that hungry people ain't worth a flip at work...).
Thy work on a holiday most of the rest would want to take off for.
Heck, why not let them exchange Fridays for Sundays.
If you have enough on payroll you can run a whole shift without paying extra!

So, once we peel bad articles and such away, there is nothing to worry about.
It really does not matter if the Holiday is a religious or a secular one.
A little of live and let live....we have gotten away from that here in the last decade....

[sunny59]

It is annoying when everybody wants what they want for their own personal gains and forgets about the good of the company or the country. I do get tired of hearing about this group wanting this or that. Nobody wants to assimilate. It's all about me, me, me. And heaven forbid anybody try to say they're offended about whatever me, me, me wants, cause they're going to be labeled a racist, meanie, butthead, you name it. Now the business owners of America have to be aware of the holidays (creeds, habits, etc) of 47 different religions, cultures, languages, persons, and hope he doesn't forget anything or he'll 'offend' someone and be sued for discrimination and out of business. It's ridiculous. Do your religious crap at home! Nobody gives a damn at work.

Wow, that's some anger coming through....

In reality, the company did not bend to the will of some small group, the whole thing is to their advantage. They now have a pool of workers that can cover labor day without getting holiday pay! And they get workers that are willing to work hours they could not before. Many companies do floating holidays, this is no different....

[sunny59]

Oh great! We aren't allowed to have prayer in schools or public meetings anymore but we can have a muslim holiday & prayer rooms at work. What bullshit!!!

First of all, private business and public schools are two different things....

Allowing someone to go off and do their own private ceremony is not the same as having group prayer in a school.

Wow, you guys sure have a lot of misplaced anger.....

[IronwoodFarm]

An employer does not have to cover ANY holidays. It is entirely optional as are the exact holidays to be covered. For example, my current employer does not cover Martin Luther King Day or Veteran's Day. I don't think it is because my employer dislikes African Americans or veterans. When I lived in Hawaii many years ago, not only did we get the "regular" holidays, but we also received Prince Kuhio Day and Admissions Day off.

When I was younger, I worked in hotels. Maybe management got holidays off, but not the hourly people. We had to work because hotels never close. Of course I loved working holidays because I got the extra holiday pay.

[Coanteen]

Discuss what? That a union negotiation team (composed 25% of possibly Muslim workers) unanimously recommended this, and the plant workers (composed of maybe 1/5-1/4 Muslim workers) voted 80% to accept it? Looks like happy democracy in action amongst the workers, doesn't it? What, you don't like voting unless the vote results in an outcome you personally agree with?

Reading the Snopes article, Labor Day was dropped, then reinstated, probably due to the media outcry. They also had the worker's birthday as one of their "8 paid holidays" (are we going to discuss that too? That's one I've never heard of, and my work is very generous with stat holidays of any and all sorts), so the reinstatement of Labor Day means that Muslim workers who choose to take Eid off lose the birthday one.

It's still a nice contract, but I don't see the fuss. Now, I do wonder what would happen if they dropped Xmas as a paid holiday, or made it "optional" to take instead of your birthday.

[Discobold]

I've no problem with this. I've never understood, though, why my Jewish friends aren't given Jewish holidays (maybe they get them in NYC but not anywhere I've worked). Every year, we have a new class of attorneys starting in September who don't have vacation time saved up for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, and it seems sort of unfair that they can't trade Christmas for their own holiday.

[Canaqua]

I don't see a problem with it...80% of the affected workers voted for the new holiday schedule. No one forced it on them.

Every company does holidays differently, ours has only the six federal holidays paid: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Patients need to be dialyzed on schedule, three days a week and moving all the Monday patients to accomodate a holiday is a BIG logistical deal. Because my company likes to be fair to everyone, even those of us who work at headquarters and never see a patient get the same holiday schedule as the clinic staff.

No big deal.

[JSwan]

It's perfectly reasonable for an employer to do this. It's also a good business practice, and quite common.

No biggie.

[clanter]

And, news to some of the US--there was NEVER, EVER prayer in public schools. Any that occurred violated the Constitution and that's why it is "not allowed". Gosh, I wish Americans would quit cherry picking from the Constitution to fit their own needs.

there was some state approved prayer at least until the 1962/63 ....Murray Vs Curlett .... the U.S. Supreme Court banned the Lord's Prayer and Bible reading in public schools in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 10 L. Ed. 2d 844. The decision came one year after the Court had struck down, in engel v. vitale, a state-authored prayer that was recited by public school students each morning (370 U.S. 421, 82S. Ct. 1261, 8 L. Ed. 2d 601 [1962]).

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedicti...ray+v.+Curlett

Before there was Federal school funds used in the states, the states had independent rights that they gave back by acceptance of the funds

[Calvincrowe]

I stand corrected, Clanter, but prayer in public school was in violation of the Constitution--and both those cases revolve around bible reading in school. Regardless, as a public school teacher, I cannot imagine praying publicly in school--what with only 20% of Americans attending church weekly, and only 40% attending church once a year! They'd be so lost. "Bible? what's that?"

My basic problem with religion or prayer in schools (or workplaces) is which version of the Christian bible? Or would schools alternate between Mormon, Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, ???

Back to the OP's problem: Get a grip. America has more people and religions and beliefs in it than the white Judeo-Christian viewpoint. Always has, always will. Since many holidays are co-opted from either military or religious events (Cinco de Mayo? St. Patrick's day?) and Labor day is really about unions...pick whatever one you want and go with it!

[clanter]

Since many holidays are co-opted from either military or religious events (Cinco de Mayo? St. Patrick's day?) and Labor day is really about unions...pick whatever one you want and go with it!

I thought it was odd the Union would opt out on its own holiday, but according to the article most worked the day anyway to obtain the holiday pay rate.


This new holiday just adds another day that at least 80% of the workers can see as bonus pay day..a .crafty move by the union by making an increase in pay opportunity appear to be something else.