Supervisors at a meatpacking plant have fired dozens of Somali Muslim employees for trying to pray at sunset. The five - ten minute prayer, known as Maghrib, must be done within a 45 minute window around sunset according to Muslim rules. Surrounding this controversy is an ex employee, Muhammad Rage, who says at least two dozen employees have been fired. A company rep says they were fired for reasons related to the issue, and that was for walking off the line without permission, not for praying. He said that unscheduled breaks can force unplanned shutdowns of lines.
Thoughts.. opinions? ... Discuss ...
2007-07-31 03:18:49 · 16 answers · asked by ♥ JustAChick ♥ 6 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
I agree with most of you. The company should not have to make time for the workers to pray. Yes, SOME people get scheduled breaks (I work in health care, we don't get breaks scheduled or otherwise) .. but an employer cannot guarantee you a certain time to be off machines to pray, smoke etc... Working in a factory, if one person slacks off (in some places for even 10 seconds) the whole place has to be shut down because products jam the machines because no one was there to receive them. Factory business is unlike many others in that respect. I worked at a job that didn't hire observant Jews, because working a Saturday was part of the position. No one cried "racism" or "anti-semitism" as they saw this as a part of the employer's requirements. As a Christian, I have had to work on Sundays and miss church. Your God should understand. If He doesn't, possibly you are worshipping the wrong God.
2007-07-31 04:43:20 · update #1
There are many American employees who have to give up their time at church because demands for certain products in the market have required the sacrifice of more hours and days to their employer, and that does present a backlog of things to do, including cramming everything possible into the days off. It is difficult to separate home life from employee life. But the employer has hired your labors and your time is your employers while you work there. With respect for your practices of timely prayer, the environment is not your domain nor is it a fitting place for worshiping. Be aware of the work you are hired to do.
2007-07-31 03:36:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
I have to agree with the employer on this one. If they were able to pray on a required coffee break, then that's fine. If the prayers didn't last for more than 15 mins and the emplyees staggered their breaks so that the line wouldn't be affected, then I say go ahead and pray. But if that's not the case, then the employer has a right to discipline and eventually terminate that employee(s). The law is the law and it trumps any religious requirement. Seems awfully arrogant of anyone to walk off the line without permission and then claim they were treated unfairly because they wanted to follow their religion. I say find a job which would allow that and stop whining.
2007-07-31 03:49:43 · answer #2 · answered by Bob Mc 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I dont believe its harassment at all, its the employers choice and I havent heard of any prayer breaks at a job ever. That is your private time on your own time. I Dont have a lot of sympathy for the workers, if it is that important it should of been established before the hire. The employer nor the U.S is to blame. The Muslim workers have the choice to be here or not.
2007-07-31 06:22:25 · answer #3 · answered by rainydaze 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Any employment in the US is a mutually exclusive agreement. Employees can quit at any time and employers can fire at any time.
This guy would not have been fired after one offense. In addition, if he had asked if he could leave the production line at any time *before* he was hired they would have told him no. This is just an example of someone's personal life not being well suited to his job.
This is not a religious issue. This is not a political issue. This is a human resources issue.
2007-07-31 03:42:47 · answer #4 · answered by Peter D 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Seems like a situation in which Muslim workers are trying to separate themselves from the rest of the workforce and demand special considerations not given other employees. Contrast that to the Middle East where Korean citizens who are Christians are being systematically murdered by Muslims. These are workers, who purport to be Americans, want to create work slowdowns and problems in an American plant. No other religion is allowed to hold services, pray or go to meetings. This is abuse of what we call tolerance and they call hatred of the country to which they have immigrated to. If you have warm and fuzzy ideas and Muslims you need to do just a little bit of study and you will find that they believe strongly that anyone who does not believe as they does has not right to life let alone to worship. We are not a Muslim society run by clerics we are a secular society that asks that we tolerate all types of religions but not be dominated by them. They really should return to their home nation where they can do these things and not try to change the hundreds of other religions and customs in the country they came to. Get used to this, they are here and they want trouble. Lets see how many people on this site think giving in is a good idea.
2007-07-31 03:40:08 · answer #5 · answered by Tom W 6 · 6⤊ 2⤋
confident that they had the main recommendations-blowing. the folk walked off the interest. If I have been the supervisor i think of i might have tried to handle them without giving them something greater. in the event that they had to eat at 6 for a million month i do no longer see the difficulty till it makes each and every of the workers take their harm on an analogous time. of direction the actual question is could we enable any immigrant to return in and insist concessions which in essence proves the lack of ability of want to assimilate. Muslim immigrants have shown repeatedly the choose their regulations accompanied and it has brought about issues in numerous ecu countries and a few in Canada.
2016-10-08 21:43:24 · answer #6 · answered by puccinelli 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have worked on production lines. You do not just walk off the line, everyone on the line has a job to do on what ever the item is moving down the line. If you need to get off the line, ask the supervisor or line leader and someone will be brought to replace you while you are gone.
2007-07-31 04:08:14 · answer #7 · answered by firewomen 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Fred Zepplin would have the correct analogy here. Being Muslim, a different race, etc, does not equal more rights than the rest of us (I'm not white, but never use the race card). It's not a government job, where this sort of restriction might actually be an issue.
2007-07-31 03:32:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The plant should not have to change it's work structure to accomodate anyone's religion. When they took the job, they should have known the rule. Failure to adhere to company policy makes the workers at fault. They should just go find a job elsewhere that allows for the break at that time or has them done with work for the day before then.
2007-07-31 03:24:49 · answer #9 · answered by Uncle Tim 6 · 8⤊ 0⤋
I worked in a factory and you were not allowed to leave the line without permission. I know because I got in a little trouble when I had to go to the bathroom and just left.
I asked about this a week ago and didn't get but one response and one question was deleted. Go figure?
2007-07-31 03:34:24 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋