Muslim workers fired for protesting discrimination

In early September, at least 100 Muslim workers at the JBS Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., most of them from Somalia, were fired for walking off their jobs to protest Swift’s refusal to accommodate Muslim workers during the holy month of Ramadan.

The official number of fired workers, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, is 130, while Swift says the number fired is only 100.

The workers were asking to take their break at sunset so they could pray and break their fast, but the company denied the request.

Similarly, workers at another Swift meatpacking plant in Grand Island, Neb., were fired for the same reason. There, workers put the number fired at 150, though plant management says it was only 86.

In Nebraska, the workers were originally allowed to take time at sunset to pray and break their fast. Unfortunately, instead of exhibiting solidarity in dealing with the company, hundreds of other workers walked off the job there to protest Muslim workers being allowed the break time, saying it amounted to “preferential” treatment.

When managers at the plant reversed their original decision, the Muslim workers were fired after walking out a second time.

Last year Muslim workers walked off the job at the Nebraska plant because of discrimination, though they eventually returned.

James Abbi, a Somali Muslim in Nebraska, said of the sunset breaks, “We just asked for five minutes to pray. That don’t hurt nobody.”

It is not unusual for workers to get time off for special religious needs, like Catholics on Ash Wednesday, for example.

In Greeley, UFCW Local 7 filed a grievance on behalf of the Muslim workers for discrimination and wrongful termination.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations announced possible legal action, but Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman, said, “Really, you don’t need attorneys in these cases. You just need a spirit of good will and cooperation.” Citing the stubbornness of the Swift plant in Greeley, Hooper said, “Usually in these cases we’re able to come to an amicable solution.”

The battle is ongoing. Though Swift counters that it offered a break time at 8 p.m., that would have been too late for the evening prayer, which is timed for sunset. It is the one prayer during the day that has to be done at a specific time.