Facing criticism for negotiating a contract that substituted a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the plant’s eight paid holidays, Tyson Foods and the union at its poultry plant in Shelbyville, Tenn., said Friday that they had agreed to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday.þþIn a contract reached in November, the union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, persuaded Tyson Foods to agree to let the Muslim holiday, Id al-Fitr, replace Labor Day as a paid holiday because many Somali workers at the plant wanted that day off. Of the plant’s 1,000 unionized workers, at least 250 are Somali.þþAfter a Shelbyville newspaper wrote about that contract provision last week, many anti-immigrant groups and conservative bloggers called for a boycott of Tyson, saying the contract betrayed an important American holiday and was an improper concession to Islam.þþIn a news release on Friday, Tyson said it had asked the union to revise the plant’s contract and restore Labor Day as a paid holiday because some Shelbyville employees had expressed concern about the contract’s provisions.þþThe revised contract again makes Labor Day a paid holiday but also keeps Id al-Fitr (pronounced eed-al-FIT-tr) — which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting — as a paid holiday for those who want it. The Muslim holiday will replace a paid personal day. Under the revised agreement, employees who do not want Id al-Fitr off can continue to take a paid personal day of their choice.þþ“The union is pleased that the will of the workers in Shelbyville to observe and celebrate Id al-Fitr will be guaranteed as a paid holiday,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president.þ
Source: NY Times
