A Tyson plant in Tennessee has decided to offer the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr -- which marks the end of Ramadan -- as a paid holiday instead of Labor Day. Almost 700 of the plant's 1,200 employees are Muslim. Somehow, I think this is going to be an emotional one...
More details from MSNBC:
"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. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant.
Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays -- the same number as the old contract.
Eid al-Fitr -- which falls on Oct. 1 this year -- marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Union leaders said implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people.
Nineteen-year plant veteran William Pentecost doesn't agree with the decision. "I don't think it's right. I really don't think it's right," he said.
Tyson company spokeswoman Libby Lawson said by phone that, "This isn't a religious accommodation, this is a contractual agreement. The majority asked for it." The change didn't bother some workers.
"I think it's fine. I don't have any problem with it. There's a whole bunch of them here, so they've got to do something for them," said worker John Smith. Nineteen-year plant veteran William Pentecost doesn't agree with the decision. "It shouldn't happen. I mean, I think, we're in America, you're in America, I think that they should go with our holidays," Pentecost said."
Lots of stuff imbedded in this one. America, religion, etc. For most work locations, the standard operating procedure of Amercian and Christian holidays satisfies the majority. When that's challenged or no longer makes sense in a mutil-cultural environment, doesn't it make sense to move a large portion of the fixed holidays into floating holidays to offer employees the flexibillity to identify the days most important to them to be away from work?
Just thinking out loud. The other issue embedded in this one is workforce planning, in that the plant needs to know when they are going to shut down for full days to plan production.
Is it ever easy? The answer is most certainly no, but we'll see the standard idea of Christian holidays challenged more and more in the future, as the Amercian workforce continues to diversify.
Leaving well alone the religious aspects i do wonder about the economical sense of what has happened here.
being British (did i really just type that? i mean Welsh of course!) I am not sure on what holidays exactly you guys have. But surely it is a good idea to have your holidays at the same times as your suppliers and clients?
Not only are you not going to have access to people you may need on labour day but when the new holiday comes around then clients and suppliers who may need to be getting in touch will have to wait an extra day.
i know it is not huge in the scheme of things but if you start operating the rest of the country on a multitude of different holidays then you may find that business planning becomes that much more difficult.
Going to be honest and say I have not given this a hige amount of thought but it was certainly something that occured to me as I read your article.
Posted by: Recruitment Nick | August 07, 2008 at 04:36 PM
As a negotiator (on the mgmt side), I find it appropriate that the union is bargaining for what employees want.
I find the reaction of the employees interesting. People accept Christmas as a religious holiday granted by secular American employers, but a Muslim holiday is somehow un-American.
As a non-Christian, I welcome the discussion and attention around non-Christian religions in the workplace.
Posted by: Christina | August 13, 2008 at 12:55 PM