CAIR Organized a Muslim walkout at the Cargill Meat Solutions Plant – The Workers Got Fired
Cargill Meat Solutions beef processing plant in Fort Morgan is shown here in 2011. About 200 Somali workers at the plant walked out Monday to protest what they said was religious discrimination after an alleged sudden policy change about when workers could take five-minute breaks to pray during their shifts. (Fort Morgan Times file photo)
About 150 Muslim workers were fired for their illegal walkout protest.
The Denver Post reported:
About 150 workers, most of them immigrants from Somalia, have been fired from a meat packing and distribution plant on Colorado’s Eastern Plains for walking off the job to protest a workplace prayer dispute.
Ten days ago more than 200 workers walked off their jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan.
Some workers later returned, but the majority stayed away as representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) negotiated on their behalf.
On Tuesday Cargill, through its attorneys, fired the workers who were holding out, said Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman and executive director of CAIR.
Cargill is a Kansas-based company.
Some of the fired employees have been working at the plant for up to 10 years, Hussein said. Cargill had previously allowed Muslim employees to pray at the plant, even providing a prayer room, he said.
Depending on the season, the Muslim workers prayed at different times of the day, typically in about five-to-10 minute blocks, Hussein said. But recently a decision was made at the plant to change the practice.
“The workers were told: ‘If you want to pray, go home,’ ” Hussein said.
Many of the workers, some who support family with their earnings, banned together and decided to walk off the job in an attempt to sway plant managers to reinstate a prayer schedule.
