Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day For Muslim Holiday for union employees- Time to boycott Tyson Foods!
As an update to the earlier post, in addition to sending an e-mail - I called the customer service phone number for Tyson to register a complant. Tyson's customer service was abrupt and kept trying to whitewash the whole thing by stating over and over that they were only doing this with the union employees. When I finally was able to get in a few words I let the rep know that my family was no longer going to buy Tysen products and before I could finish the rep cut me off and stated , that's fine, and hung up! I was calm and profesional through out the mostly one sided conversation, and was very surprised by the hang up! ... For any one else intrested in calling Tyson's customer relations ... the number is 800-643-3410. Call now and register your complaint... If enough people do , they cannot ignore this......
The following is an article in the Nashville News.... (Thanks to the Drudge Report)
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.
My family and I will be boycotting Tyson Foods. I've already contacted their corporate office to voice our objection to this. You too, can contact Tyson at
Contact Information
Mail: Tyson Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 2020
Springdale, AR 72764-6999 Telephone: 1-800-643-3410
Consumer Relations CP631
2210 West Oaklawn Drive
Springdale, AR 72764-6999
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The following is an article in the Nashville News.... (Thanks to the Drudge Report)
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.
My family and I will be boycotting Tyson Foods. I've already contacted their corporate office to voice our objection to this. You too, can contact Tyson at
Contact Information
Mail: Tyson Foods, Inc.
P.O. Box 2020
Springdale, AR 72764-6999 Telephone: 1-800-643-3410
Consumer Relations CP631
2210 West Oaklawn Drive
Springdale, AR 72764-6999
free hit counter
posted by Baltic Waves at 10:19 AM
1 Comments:
This is interesting, and in some ways disturbing. In Australia here the same sort of situation exists: there are times when extra considerations or 'right' are demanded by a minority. My blog is http://threeswans.blogspot.com if you want to visit and check some of the posts. I think you may be quite right that Islam is a threat to the West, by way of the hard-line Islamists who do not accept live and let live. They see themselves as having a mission to conquer the world. Best wishes.
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