Religion in the Work Place

             

          My  two cents on a recent issue  in the US :  about  200 Somali Muslim  immigrants  refused to go to work over a misunderstanding on prayer  breaks . They were subsequently  fired by the company , Cargill , a meat packing company. 

            First of all , from what I gathered , the company  ALLOWS   its Muslims  workers to take a break from work  so that they could  pray . However , last month , the company  began a new policy stating that Muslims should  pray in small groups of three. It's because if they leave the work station in big groups ( ten or more ) and then pray  , work is disrupted and their product ---meat --- may get spoiled. The new policy  was misinterpreted by the Muslims as  discriminatory  and a barrier to practice their faith . As a sign of protest , they did not report for work for a few days. The company decided  to fire them.  

          Let me tell you something . I have been working as a teacher in the Middle East  for more than five years now. Many of my co-teachers are Arab  Muslims .  Here is what I observed . They don't leave their classes  in order  to pray . They pray before  or after teaching . Thus,   there is no work disruption. I can say the same thing about my students all of whom are  young adult Muslims . Only very few of them leave the class to pray . In fact , last semester ,  out of  the total  120 ( plus ) students I had , only  two consistently asked for permission  to go out and pray . The rest stayed in the class the whole time . They told me that  they pray before or after classes. My Muslim co-teachers and students  have all the right ,   the power and the freedom to take a break from classes  and pray .They are in their own country . They can easily  do  that .  But they don't . They adjust their prayer  time  to avoid work interruptions. 

             Now , if my  Arab Muslim colleagues and students ( all very faithful to Islam )  can make adjustments ---- why can't these Somali Muslims   who chose the USA as their second home do the same thing ? I don't see the new policy  as a form of religious discrimination . It's a reasonable business decision. 

        Overall , the actions of the Somalis will be detrimental to many Muslims in the USA . Many companies will now think that hiring Muslims is bad  and risky for business. As a result , this will jeopardize many employment opportunities  for Muslims .  

              Besides , accommodating  workers'  religious practices can unsettle  a  business . Okay , you allow the Muslims to take a break in order to pray because they insist it's a fundamental right . Now,  what if the Catholic workers  ask  for a break to pray the rosary ? It's their  fundamental right too ! Remember , the USA has a big number  of citizens  with  Asian  and  Latino Catholic background.  And it's a country  where individual freedom  is so vigilantly guarded . Hundreds of lawsuits are filed every day because of accusations of  violating  freedom of expression , freedom of religion and so many other freedoms .  What if every Muslim , Christian , Jew ,  Hindu or Buddhist  asks for a prayer time at work ? What's the company gonna  do ? 

                    

A Cargill Meat Plant