I think this might bother one or two of my fellow posters, so that's why I'm sharing it with you. What holiday would you dump to accommodate your employees' religious observances? Should purely religious holidays be paid by your employer? How far is too far? Rants? Opinions?

http://www.wsmv.com/news/17063986/detail.html#-

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons.
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.
"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.
Channel 4's Cynthia Williams could not reach any of the plant’s Muslim workers, because Channel 4 News' crew was not permitted on the property.
Former employee and Shelbyville resident Anthony Proctor said he thinks what's happening is wrong.
He said he helped build a special Muslim prayer room that's located inside the plant and that no other Tyson facility has been that accommodating for any other religion.
"If we want to go pray, we don’t have one for Christians," he said.
Tyson is headquartered in Arkansas.
Lawson said they consider religious accommodations on a case-by-case basis. She said that so far, no one has asked for any other type of religious prayer room.
No one at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s regional office answered phone calls placed by Williams on Friday.
A representative in New York said that no one there knew specifics about the new contract with the workers, but a person in research told Williams that holidays aren't usually replaced and are more likely to be added on.
The decision will only apply to workers at the plant who are union members. All other employees at the plant will still have their normal Labor Day holiday.

Why dump labor day? Why not let them have their day off as well? Or give them an "either/or" option?

That's the way the cookie crumbles.

That would seem to make the most sense from a business standpoint. That way, they can keep the plant open on both days and just have a split shift.

Ah bull shit we need as many holidays as we can get. It's an excuse for drinkin'.

No kidding. Especially after Ramadan.
Anybody want to come to my Eid al-Fitr kegger this year? It's only a few weeks after my traditional Yom Kippur pig roast.




Update: things have changed

This post has been edited by JC23JC23: Aug 10 2008, 08:46 PM

get use to it when because obama gets into office he will force you to practice all the muslim holiday.

LMFAO!! You can't be serious Grid.

That's why I just had a new tin foil hat made. All fresh and untainted by previous use, it's ready to go!!

That's a truly great idea. We should advertise and have a HUGE block party to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Have kegs, pork, nekkid women, and just about everything the Muslim's don't like. How can they bitch? We are celebrtating WITH them, we're just celebrating our own way...

That should REALLY piss them off!!

The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few or the one.

as serious as serious can be.

have you ever celebrated a pagan holiday?

So, you think Obama is going to make us practice Islam?

Do you celebrate Christmas?

You mean like the 4th July or Valentine’s Day?

No guys, he's actually right... I saw a video on youtube about him being muslim... did you know his middle name is hussein? it's possible he was related to the Iraqi guy that GW was partners with in that oil scam... the one they tried to take attention off of by launching cruise missiles into those office buildings and the pentagram. Which probably means he's just trying to sneak in and get control of the army to put more army boats down near texas in case the gulf war starts up again.

It's seriously fucked up guys, and not funny.

You know what would be funny? If the New Yorker did a cartoon satirizing this thought process.

And then we could comment on it and call each other names!