We can't even have prayer in public schools we pay for, but these jokers think they should have religious privileges? What would happen and who all would be whining if this was a group of Christians? Think the ACLU will jump on this?


GREELEY, Colo. (AP) -- A union representing Muslim workers at a JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant plans to file grievances over the firing of more than 100 workers in a dispute over religious accommodations, a spokesman said Wednesday.
At issue is a request by Muslim workers to be able to take lunch breaks at sunset to end their fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. As many as 300 workers walked out of JBS Swift & Co. on Friday before their shifts ended, and the union had been in talks with the company.
Many of the workers were suspended. Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid said in a written statement Wednesday the workers were told they would be fired if they didn't report to work when recalled. Smid didn't specify how many workers were fired. She said the company adjusted the workers' breaks by more than an hour to accommodate them.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 spokesman Manny Gonzales said Wednesday that 130 to 150 workers from JBS Swift & Co. were fired. He said the union would file grievances against the company.
The firings came a day after representatives from the union met with Swift officials to discuss workers' concerns.
But many of the workers who gathered at a Greeley park on Tuesday expressed their dissatisfaction with negotiations by saying, "No prayer, no work."
Last year, in Grand Island, Neb., dozens of workers also quit their jobs at a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant because of the same concerns. A union spokesman said then that 94 workers there had quit, but the company said it was about 70 people. More than a week later, several of the workers returned.

I wonder if those "Muslims" are handling pork???
Not all muslims stay away from it but most do. I would think that working at a meat packing plant would be a no no for most of them.

What would happen and who all would be whining if this was a group of Christians? Think the ACLU will jump on this?

It probably wouldn't even make the news. The ACLU will be on this like flys on...........

My new religion states I can only work 2 hours a week and must be paid for a minimum of 100 hours a week.... Plus a new vehicle allowance and a petty cash fund...

My new religion states I can only work 2 hours a week and must be paid for a minimum of 100 hours a week.... Plus a new vehicle allowance and a petty cash fund...
I wanna be a Deacon!!

My new religion states I can only work 2 hours a week....

So you are going to start working twice as much as you do now? [laugh]

~runnin'forcoverRob

I've always said the threat of our using a "pork bomb" on the terrorists would end all problems in the mideast pronto.:cool:

So you are going to start working twice as much as you do now? [laugh]

~runnin'forcoverRob

What?...I don't get it? [whistle]

Fill the positions with illegals[laugh][laugh][tapdshut]

Fill the positions with illegals[laugh][laugh][tapdshut]

you're kidding, right?



"The Swift plant was the target of an immigration raid in December 2006, where 260 alleged undocumented workers were arrested. Employees from Somalia and elsewhere in East Africa working on temporary visas were brought in as replacements."

I want to join Lary's religion... I'll go above and beyond and work 2.75 hours a week. Whew!!!! I'm beat!!!

My sister is a prison guard. They have to let them have their time to pray,special music, and other concessions even in prison.

I am a Christian and for almost 20 years I worked shift work. I have worked to many Christmas and Easter holidays to even remember. If I didn't come to work , I would be fired. SO SHOULD THEY.

The latest...........

Workers hope for prayer compromise at Neb. plant

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) -- Local Muslim leaders will seek a compromise with officials at a Grand Island meatpacking plant in hopes of resolving a prayer dispute.
More than two dozen representatives from the local Somali community and a Somali Muslim group from Omaha met Sunday to discuss the protests and firings that stemmed from an ongoing confrontation at the JBS Swift & Co. plant.
Mohamed Rage, who leads the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization, said there were more firings Saturday, and he believes 180 to 200 Somali Muslims have been terminated altogether.
"The company is asking people to be loyal to God or their employer," he said. "That is not a position (the workers) should be put in."
The Grand Island plant employs about 2,500 people, not including managers. About a fifth of them are Muslim.
The Muslim workers - most of Somali background - have been asking for accommodations with break times to allow prayer at sunset. The issue led to walkouts at the plant this week - not only from Muslims, but also from non-Muslims who protested such accommodations as preferential treatment.
JBS Swift has confirmed 86 firings, saying the employees were fired for repeatedly leaving work without authorization. The company has also said it issued warnings before terminating workers.
Messages left over the weekend for a company spokeswoman weren't returned.
Rage said he anticipated all the Muslim workers would be fired before the end of this week, but he was encouraging those still employed to keep working.
He and other Muslim leaders called Sunday's meeting as some workers contemplated additional protests.
The Muslim group that gathered Sunday decided that their first course of action is to negotiate with company officials to ensure workers' constitutional rights aren't violated. The group says it has tried to strike a compromise with plant management on three occasions - all before the first walkout early last week.
If further negotiations don't work, the workers will seek help from the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission and its federal counterpart.
Phone messages left in recent days with the state commission have not been returned.
Several of the counterprotesters on Thursday held brochures from the commission - printed in English and Spanish - that explained how it handles complaints. They said they were given the brochures in case they were fired.
Christine Nazer of the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission said last week that the agency is prohibited by law from discussing complaint filings or ongoing investigations.
Earlier Sunday, about 100 Somalis gathered outside a local apartment complex to discuss the prayer issue with the Muslim representatives. One man carried small U.S. and Somali flags. Another carried a sign bearing the words "We respect all faiths."
Several Somalis, including a woman on crutches who had fallen at work and broken her leg, detailed stories of mistreatment at the hands of management. Asha Hussen said it took a significant effort to convince plant nurses she'd been injured that badly. When she went to the plant for help with a doctor visit, she was fired, Hussen said.
Asha Abdi detailed how she'd been locked in a room after she was caught praying. She also said management took away the pieces of cardboard she and others were using as prayer mats.
On Monday, hundreds of Muslim employees walked off the job, saying they weren't being allowed to take a break to pray during Ramadan. Break times were then altered on the second shift so that Muslim employees could make their fourth of five daily prayers at sunset.
Then hundreds of non-Muslim workers walked off the job in counterprotests Wednesday and Thursday. Later Thursday, plant managers did an about-face, saying the new break times weren't working.
Khadar Ducaale of the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization said Sunday that tension has been building between the Muslim employees and their co-workers.
"This is a place where people are holding knives, and they can kill each other. They can finish each other, and at the end of the day it would be up to the plant to pay for whatever happened," he said.
JBS Swift & Co. said in a statement Friday that the company is working to resolve the issue.
"JBS values its diverse workforce and has a long track record of making significant accommodations to employees," the statement said. "We work closely with all employees and union representation to accommodate religious practices in a reasonable, safe and fair manner."

Remarkable,I will not accept any responsibility for my own actions and you must do as my faith wishes or we will create problems for the entity that feeds us.May I respectfully suggest that you find employment more inline with your religious beliefs not including the public dole.[coffee]This would include but not be limited to Canada,Mexico,Red China,Japan,Chile or,of course,your origional homeland.[dummy]

Well you walked off the job and refused to come back to work you bassically quit.


so i don't understand why they should even try to sue. if i left work one day cause of my beliefs than hey i would get fired too.

No real discription of what the compromises was, so its hard to actually pick a side on this. Not sure what all the rage about is though. Our countries already account for Christian religious holidays. But Christians isn't the only religion these days. If the same amount of work is done in a day (which these articles never confirm or deny), whats the big deal if they take their breaks at different times?

To me it sounds like the company has bigger issues that employees aren't happy about. They're using religion as an excuse to get back at the company.