Posted on 08/24/2007 12:10:29 PM PDT by Baladas
OMAHA — Meatpacking plant officials accused of discriminating against dozens of Somali Muslim workers have offered to tweak break times to help accommodate the workers’ prayer demands.
If the dozens of Muslim workers and Swift & Co. can agree on details, a solution could defuse the dispute that started earlier this year when 120 workers at the Grand Island plant abruptly quit because they weren’t allowed to pray at sunset.
Many say they were fired, quit or were verbally and physically harassed over the issue, and some have complained to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the way they were treated. In a letter to lawyers representing the workers, Swift said it could eliminate some breaktime conflicts, and offered to negotiate more scheduling flexibility with the union to allow more prayer time if the workers agreed to the proposal.
Advocates for the workers said Thursday that they were encouraged by the proposal, but said they would not accept a solution that did not accommodate the prayers for the whole year.
“We’ll continue negotiations with the company and hopefully we’ll come out with a solution that everybody can deal with,” said Rima Kapitan, a lawyer for the Council on American-Islamic Relations who is representing the workers in the dispute. “We’re certainly not going to accept their proposals at their face.”
(Excerpt) Read more at journalstar.com ...
“I don’t know that I can agree to that because I have 1,700 other people to worry about,” said Dan Hoppes, Local 22 union president. “I have to look and see what they’ve got in mind.”
You give the muzzies extra breaks and you'll have to give all the union people the same time off.
Bacon bits make great confetti.
Ah, umm, gee, we already have that. It’s called young dopeheaded rapper.
Ping.
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