TheMorningStar
August 6th, 2008, 12:18 AM
I love holidays, whatever excuse for one is cool with me. My whole life there have been the standard holidays which have no religious significance: July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving. When MLK day was invented, I was all for it.
There are others like Christmas which pretty much everyone of any religion take off. I have always been jealous of my Jewish friends who get to take extra days off for their holidays. Having never worked with a Muslim, I would imagine that they would get their holidays like my Jewish friends get theirs.
Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.
A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."
The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."
http://www.t-g.com/story/1449487.html
Alas poor Labor day, a holiday designed to be "a day off for the working man" has been replaced with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr is admittedly an important Muslim holiday but it is a religious one where Labor Day is for everyone.
Mickelson said that "Eid al-Fitr is one of eight paid holidays for all Team Members covered by the contract, while Labor Day is not a paid holiday."
"Based on the contract, the other paid holidays include: The Team Member's birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day," Mickelson said.
"Implementing this holiday was a challenge, since it falls on a different day every year and is declared on fairly short notice," RWDSU Representative Randy Hadley said in the press release. "But the negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."
This seems dumb because if production was an issue then take away the Birthday (give everyone Eid al-Fitr and Labor day). The worker would still take a personal day or a sick day on that day but it wouldn't be a huge group of workers at once. I guess its cool though that they get an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, even if it is a religious one.
What do you think? Would it bother you to have a religious holiday replace a secular one where you work?
Sorry to dbl post, you can delete this now, I let my feelings known in Athena's thread.
There are others like Christmas which pretty much everyone of any religion take off. I have always been jealous of my Jewish friends who get to take extra days off for their holidays. Having never worked with a Muslim, I would imagine that they would get their holidays like my Jewish friends get theirs.
Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.
A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."
The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."
http://www.t-g.com/story/1449487.html
Alas poor Labor day, a holiday designed to be "a day off for the working man" has been replaced with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Eid al-Fitr is admittedly an important Muslim holiday but it is a religious one where Labor Day is for everyone.
Mickelson said that "Eid al-Fitr is one of eight paid holidays for all Team Members covered by the contract, while Labor Day is not a paid holiday."
"Based on the contract, the other paid holidays include: The Team Member's birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day," Mickelson said.
"Implementing this holiday was a challenge, since it falls on a different day every year and is declared on fairly short notice," RWDSU Representative Randy Hadley said in the press release. "But the negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."
This seems dumb because if production was an issue then take away the Birthday (give everyone Eid al-Fitr and Labor day). The worker would still take a personal day or a sick day on that day but it wouldn't be a huge group of workers at once. I guess its cool though that they get an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, even if it is a religious one.
What do you think? Would it bother you to have a religious holiday replace a secular one where you work?
Sorry to dbl post, you can delete this now, I let my feelings known in Athena's thread.