200 US MUSLIM EMPLOYEES WALKED OFF THE JOB DUE TO DISCRIMINATION OF PRAYER
Colorado, 23 Rabi’ul Awwal 1437/3 January 2016 (MINA) – Nearly 200 Muslim employees have been walked off from a meat-packing plant after downing tools following a dispute over praying at work, The Telegraph reported.
The workers, mostly Somalian immigrants, staged a walkout to protest insufficient accommodation of prayer time at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colorado.
The company has provided a “reflection room” for Muslim employees to pray since 2009 but the workers claimed there had been a change to the policy.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the workers had been treated in a “discriminatory manner” and told “If you want to pray, go home”.
Jaylani Hussein, a council spokesman, said: “All of these employees are good employees and don’t have any other issues. They feel missing their prayer is worse than losing their job. It’s like losing a blessing from God.”
However, the company, an agribusiness giant that employs 155,000 people in 68 countries, said there had been a “misunderstanding” and its policy of allowing time for prayer had not changed.
A spokesman said plant managers met with the workers, members of the Somali community, and union leaders following the walk-out but were unable to resolve the issue.
He said workers were warned that failing to show up for work three days in a row would jeopardise their employment. After 200 did so they were terminated.
The work passes left by the Muslim employees Photo: ABC 7 Denver
“At no time did Cargill prevent people from prayer at Fort Morgan. Nor have we changed policies related to religious accommodation and attendance. This has been mischaracterised.”
The spokesman told the Denver Post: “It’s an unfortunate situation that may be based somewhere in a misunderstanding. There has been a desire among some employees to go in larger groups of people to pray.
“We just can’t accommodate that. It backs up the flow of all the production. We have to ensure food safety. We have to ensure the products we produce meet consumer expectations.”(T/R04/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
