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| Muslim Workers at Nebraska Meatpacking Plant Complain of Religious Harassment |
| 2007-07-24 |
| Supervisors at a meatpacking plant have fired or harassed dozens of Somali Muslim employees for trying to pray at sunset, violating civil rights laws, the workers and their advocates say. The five- to 10-minute prayer, known as the maghrib, must be done within a 45-minute window around sunset, according to Muslim rules. The workers at the Swift & Co. plant in Grand Island say they quit, were fired or were verbally and physically harassed over the issue. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has drafted a complaint to be filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The petition compiles testimony from at least 44 workers who had planned to sign the complaint during a meeting Sunday. The signing was changed to a later date because of a logistical problem. Jama Mohamed, 28, said he was fired in June for leaving a production line to pray. Supervisors would not allow him a break, he said. "Some of them took the (prayer) mat from me; they started shouting, they started telling me to stop it, and one of them grabbed me by the collar of my shirt," Mohamed said through an interpreter. "I was crying at the time this was happening to me, and when I finished I told them while they were doing that I was in the middle of a prayer." Mohamed said he was then called to an office, where a supervisor fired him. Mohamed Rage, chairman of the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization, said Swift had fired at least two dozen workers for praying since May. Donald Selzer, an attorney for Greeley, Colo.-based Swift, said only three Somali workers were fired for reasons relating to the issue, and that it was for walking off the line without permission, not for praying. Unscheduled breaks can force unplanned shutdowns of lines, Selzer said. "That is a significant number of employees, and there is not much of a way to accommodate that consistent with keeping the production online," he said. The complaint reprises issues that boiled over in May, when 120 Somali workers abruptly quit for similar reasons. About 70 returned a week later, but union officials worried the issue would resurface through the late spring as sunset came later in the evening shift. "For three days it was all good and we were praying; there was no hassle, no interference, nothing at all," said Ali Schire, 30, who said he returned to the plant but was later fired for trying to pray. "All of a sudden after three days it just all got loose, and they were suspending people, they were firing people," Schire said through an interpreter. "Some of the people even had to give up praying at all for fear of being fired." Said Selzer: "These people are absolutely entitled to pray, and they should not be interfered with for doing so. But on the other hand, the only situations that I've been made aware of are people that walk off the job without permission, and that's a different kind of an issue." Dan Hoppes, president of Local 22 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said he had not heard of many Somali workers being fired or harassed since May. Prayer breaks are not in the contract, he said, but he hopes to revisit the issue in negotiations in 2010. Swift rejected a suggestion by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to allow the Somalis who work evenings to leave in smaller shifts to avoid disrupting lines, said Rima Kapitan, an attorney with the group. The company suggested phasing evening workers to shifts earlier in the day that did not interrupt prayer times, Selzer and Hoppes said. "We're perfectly happy to try to pursue that angle so that we don't have this conflict," Selzer said. "But given the people who are on the second shift — many of whom prefer to be there — this sort of presents the operational realities." Mohamed said it is important for Muslims to pray within scheduled times and not to postpone prayers or say them early. "I would never forgive myself and God would not forgive me if I do not pray on time because I want to earn some money," he said. |
| Posted by:Delphi |
| #19 Seems to be the Somalis are the vanguard of the Islamic pushin the midwest. Somali taxi drivers wouldn't take dogs or passengers with booze. Somali cashiers wouldn't ring up pork or booze. Now Somali meatpackers are creating their own schedule. Normally during the hiring process you are asked "is there anything that would prevent you from doing your duties." Since the morning prayer is not a sudden thing they should have brought all of this up in the job interview. Methinks they came out of a mosque one day feeling they suddenly absolutely had to pray at this time and were probably told US laws would protect them. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-07-24 17:56 |
| #18 What a mental picture, Steve; a minaret instead of the island, camels instead of tow tractors, and 5 times a day the thing could point towards Mecca. Might be kind of interesting of prayer ( and mecca-pointing) time coincided witha Suez Canal transit. those flowing robe thingies could be downright dangerous when the WOD numbers got up there (lots of sail area) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-07-24 17:41 |
| #17 So, it's ok to stink of pig fat when you pray to Allah, but you can't do the prayers on your normally scheduled breaks? |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2007-07-24 17:35 |
| #16 I'm picturing the first Islamic aircraft carrier: The AKBAR has turned into the wind. The first bird of the four ship flight is spun up, the catapault tensioned. The Cat Officer is about to signal Launch when, doh, it's time for prayers! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-07-24 17:14 |
| #15 Parasites for Allen. I can't imagine what the Nabraska human population thinks of this. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-07-24 15:25 |
| #14 The five- to 10-minute prayer, known as the maghrib, must be done within a 45-minute window around sunset Complete and total BULLSHIT. All Muslims are absolved of wrongdoing if legitimate circumstances prevent them performing their worship in a timely fashion. This is yet one more example of Muslims pushing the envelope in order to accustom Infidels to their incessant demands for preferential treatment. As bigjim said: Swift should put this to bed with a "foot meets ass" type of solution. Nothing else is required but filling out the pink slips. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-24 15:25 |
| #13 But do they have their own foot washing bathroom??? And just who checks their left hand after bathroom breaks? |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-07-24 14:46 |
| #12 We should just let Swift use illegal aliens. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2007-07-24 14:39 |
| #11 We should just let Swift use illegal aliens. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2007-07-24 14:37 |
| #10 I'm kind of surprised there are Muslims working there at all. Swift must be a pretty pork-intensive operation. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-07-24 14:36 |
| #9 If you give muslims extra breaks, then you have to give everyone extra breaks. Pretty soon, you don't have anybody cutting meat at all, just smoking and praying. Swift should put this to bed with a "foot meets ass" type of solution. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-07-24 14:29 |
| #8 Why don't the Somali's apply for jobs with schedules that match their prayer times? The conflict makes them unable to perform their jobs as required. It's not possible to accommodate a muslim's prayer schedule. Not even a 9-5 shift can do it without a very "flexible" lunch hour as prayer times change with the lengthening and shortening of the day as the year spins by. Here's today's schedule for Toronto: 24 Tue 3:51 5:58 1:24 5:26 8:50 10:56 A truly pious muslim who prays all five times a day is getting only just under 4 hours of sleep a night. That makes them unfit to work. Any muslim not praying all five times a day isn't "pious" enough to demand a floating prayer break at work. Rock and a hard place, muzzies. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble 2007-07-24 14:24 |
| #7 Give every muslim that can't assimilate a 1-way ticket back to the islamic sh*thole they came from. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-07-24 14:14 |
| #6 Ima Ask The Imam for a fatwa on the hypocrisy of muslims working at one of the largest pork slaughter and processing plants. The moon god can't be pleased. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-07-24 14:01 |
| #5 Let them eat pork. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2007-07-24 13:50 |
| #4 Somehow Grand Island and Muslim don't fit with the Grand Island I knew.... Oh well the invasion continues... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-07-24 13:35 |
| #3 Dan Hoppes, president of Local 22 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said he had not heard of many Somali workers being fired or harassed since May. Prayer breaks are not in the contract, he said, but he hopes to revisit the issue in negotiations in 2010. Useful tools they are. Albeit, I've gotta wonder if the other Union employees may "enforce" their own sort of "negotiations" after this stunt. The perfect blending of the left and the muzzies. "I would never forgive myself and God would not forgive me if I do not pray on time because I want to earn some money," he said. If your "god" is that freakin' anal, maybe you should look elsewhere my friend. If God (capital "G") is really God, then He can take your prayers at any time. |
| Posted by: BA 2007-07-24 13:16 |
| #2 Solution: Don't. Hire. Mohammedans. |
| Posted by: Natural Law 2007-07-24 12:17 |
| #1 Mohamed Rage Perfect. Just fuckin perfect! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-07-24 12:08 |