GREELEY, COLORADO // More than 300 Muslim employees at a slaughterhouse in northern Colorado have walked off the job to protest against their employer's refusal to allow them to pray and then break their fast during Ramadan. Workers at the JBS Swift and Co plant in Greeley, located about 100km north of the state capital, Denver, said bathrooms were locked and water fountains shut off, preventing them from washing their hands and feet before kneeling in prayer.
Managers also barred them from drinking water and eating the sunset iftar meal. They were reported to have said that other, non- Muslim employees would also want a break and production would falter. At any given moment, 200,000 cattle await slaughter at the sprawling Swift plant, which employs more than 3,000 people. It is not the first time Swift has run into problems with Muslim employees. In July 2007, Somali workers at the company's plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, charged that they faced harassment when they tried to perform evening prayers. Three workers were fired when they walked off the production line without permission.
A Swift spokesman did not return phone calls from The National, but a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said the firm had entered into negotiations with union officials to try to end the stand-off. Before Ramadan began here on Sept 1, Muslim employees at the Greeley factory had made a deal with their managers to give up their lunch break in return for time off to pray and eat, said Manny Gonzales, a spokesman for the group. They felt their bosses had reneged on the deal.
"The workers themselves had negotiated a daily break at sunset," Mr Gonzales said. "They walked out when that agreement was not upheld." Muslim employees say they believe a deal is within reach. "They are working with us," one employee, Ahmed Mohamud, said of the Swift managers on Monday. During the holy month, Muslim faithful around the globe fast from dawn until dusk as a way of practicing humility and sacrifice, and to purify their souls. Iftar and accompanying prayers occur about halfway through the shift at the Greeley factory, one of the largest beef-processing plants in the United States.
US federal law requires companies to accommodate workers' religious preferences when possible, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says cases of religious discrimination in the workplace have doubled in the past 15 years. "This is not an isolated case," said Toheed Shibhaz, who works at the Denver Islamic Center. "We hear about problems of this nature all the time." Workers at the Greeley slaughterhouse said they were initially allowed to break for iftar, but that policy changed on Friday after non-Muslim workers complained that they were not also given time off.
"It's fair to say there is some confusion over where US law comes down on cases of religious discrimination," said Lisa Guerin, a senior legal editor at the Nolo legal directory. "The law says the employer has to accommodate workers unless it creates undue hardship, but it is very unclear about just when you bump up against hardship." Ms Guerin said a firm such as Swift might argue it was a hardship to allow 300 workers to take a midshift break simultaneously, yet the country's laws on religious freedom also had to be upheld. "Finding a balance can be complex," she said.
Omar Clarke, a Greeley employee, said meetings with the employers had begun ironing out misunderstandings. "After meeting with the big bosses we learned about the breaks we should get. If we get the proper number of breaks, there is no problem here." Mr Shibhaz said such misunderstandings were the root of most cases of employee discrimination the Islamic Center heard. "There are so many faiths in America, and some people of no faith, and we all live in the same neighbourhood," he said. "We need to listen to each other more, and employers need to listen to their workers and not impose their own beliefs."
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