Articles in this document:

· Muslim Holiday at Tyson Plant Creates Furor

· Tyson clarifies holiday change at Tenn. plant

· Alarabiya: Critics say US is "based on Christianity"

Muslim Holiday at Tyson Plant Creates Furor

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

The New York Times

Published: August 5, 2008

The union that represents workers at a Tyson Foods poultry plant in Tennessee has negotiated a contract that substitutes a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the eight paid holidays at the plant.

The provision, which was proposed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, has delighted the plant’s Somali workers, who account for hundreds of its 1,200 employees. But it has infuriated many outsiders, leading some to denounce Tyson and the union alike.

“You are a union that is proud of achieving a Muslim holiday and prayer room?” one person wrote the union. “A union in the U.S.A., a country based on Christianity. You call yourselves Americans? Have you forgotten 9/11?”

Another wrote: “You had no right to drop Labor Day. Muslim employees must integrate Labor Day into THEIR lives if they are going to live in America.”

Stung by the criticism, Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president, said the decision was fully consistent with the spirit of Labor Day.

“We in the labor movement have always understood that unions are only strong when we work to protect the dignity of all faiths, and that includes Muslims,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who also serves as president of the Jewish Labor Committee.

“What we negotiated was the will of the workers,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who added that his was the first union to negotiate a paid day off for a Muslim holiday and that he was sure Tyson would not be the last employer to agree.

The plant affected is in the town of Shelbyville, some 40 miles south of Nashville. Under a five-year contract there, Id al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, is now one of the plant’s eight paid holidays.

Union officials said the two Somali immigrants on the union’s eight-member bargaining committee had been eager to make Id al-Fitr (pronounced eed-al-FIT-tr) a paid holiday. The union agreed to do so at the expense of Labor Day in part because it did not want to trade Christmas, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day or other existing paid holidays, and in part because Tyson has usually required the plant’s employees to work on Labor Day anyway. (Employees received a holiday premium for working that day.)

“We had worked 23 Labor Days in a row; it wasn’t like it was a day to spend with our family,” said Randy Hadley, a union representative who helped negotiate the contract.

Mr. Hadley said both management and union were surprised when nearly all the Somali workers — Tyson puts their number at 250, the union at nearly 400 — did not work on Id al-Fitr last year. They were not paid, but the plant almost had to close that day, said Mr. Hadley, adding that management was “elated” by the proposal to make Id al-Fitr a holiday.

The contract was negotiated last year and approved by workers in November. But the holiday provision largely escaped public notice until a local newspaper published an article about it last week. Many anti-immigrant bloggers and conservative commentators have since berated Tyson, urging a boycott.

Thrown on the defensive, the company issued a statement Monday saying: “Contrary to recent reports, Labor Day is still a holiday at Tyson Foods. The issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville.”

“This is not a religious accommodation,” the statement added. “Rather, it is a union-initiated contract demand.”

Libby Lawson, a Tyson spokeswoman, noted that the plant had three Christian chaplains, and prayer rooms for Muslims and Christians alike.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 6, 2008, on page A20 of the New York edition.

nytimes.com

Tyson clarifies holiday change at Tenn. plant

by Tom Wray

August 6, 2008

Provisioner Online

SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Tyson Foods Inc. said Tuesday that Labor Day is still a holiday for the company. The change to a paid day off for Eid al-Fitr is only at the Shelbyville, Tenn. plant.

The company said that the change was made as part of contract negotiations with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union and applies only to that plant. Labor Day remains a paid holiday at Tyson’s other 118 plants.

“This change came about as a result of union demands brought to the negotiating table, and was agreed upon by Tyson in an effort to reach a contractual agreement with the union,” Tyson said in a written statement. “The contract that calls for this change was unanimously recommended by the 12-person union bargaining committee, which included three Somali employees.” The contract was agreed to by 80 percent of the union membership at the plant.

The company said that about 1,000 workers are covered by the union agreement at Shelbyville. About 250 of the employees are Muslim Somali refugees.

The change has had some strong reaction locally. Local television reported that some in the area had objected to a Muslim holiday as a paid day off. Tyson reiterated that the change was not a religious accommodation but part of a union contract demand.

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. This year it falls on Oct. 1.

Source: Tyson Foods Inc.

provisioneronline.com

Critics say US is "based on Christianity"

Eid holiday at US factory sparks backlash

Al Arabiya News Channel**

Aug 06, 2008

DUBAI (AlArabiya.net) -- The labor union at a factory in Tennessee has come under fire, after it won the right for workers to get an Eid holiday instead of Labor Day, as one of the eight paid holidays at the plant, press reports said.

The change was proposed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, to accommodate the 250 Somali workers at a poultry processing plant for Tyson Foods in Shelbyville, some 40 miles south of Nashville. The five-year contract was approved by workers in November.

But many had not noticed the holiday change until an article ran in a local newspaper. Since then , reaction has been fast and furious, attacking both the union and Tyson Foods.

“A union in the U.S.A., a country based on Christianity,” one person wrote the union, according to the New York Times. “You call yourselves Americans? Have you forgotten 9/11?”

Another wrote: “You had no right to drop Labor Day. Muslim employees must integrate Labor Day into THEIR lives if they are going to live in America.”

Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president, defended the decision.

“We in the labor movement have always understood that unions are only strong when we work to protect the dignity of all faiths, and that includes Muslims,” said Appelbaum, who also serves as president of the Jewish Labor Committee. “What we negotiated was the will of the workers.”

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

According to union officials quoted by the Times, Tyson Foods was forced to close the plant last year when nearly all their 250 Somali workers – of some 1,200 employees total – wanted to have the important Muslim feast day off.

As a result, management at the plant was “elated” by the proposal to make Eid a holiday, union official Randy Hadley told the New York Times. He added that Tyson usually required employees to work on Labor Day anyway, paying them a holiday premium instead.

Responding to calls for a boycott of the company by anti-immigrant bloggers and conservative commentators, a Tyson spokeswoman said the plant had three Christian chaplains, and prayer rooms for Muslims and Christians alike, the Times reported.

** Alarabiya.net is one of the top Arabic-language news and information portals with more than one million page views per day. Its sister site - the English version - was launched in August 2007 with the vision of being the voice of the Arab world...in English.

alarabiya.net