Posted on 08/06/2008 1:12:41 PM PDT by dvan
Labor Day Still Recognized at Tyson Foods
Union Contract Provision only at Shelbyville, TN Plant
Springdale, Arkansas – August 4, 2008 – Contrary to recent reports, Labor Day is still a holiday at Tyson Foods. This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, TN.
The majority of employees at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, TN, are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union (RWDSU), an American union that asked for and received Eid al-Fitr, as one of their eight paid holidays, in place of Labor Day.
This applies only to the Shelbyville plant and resulted as part of the union contract negotiated last fall. This change does not apply to Tyson's other 118 plants. This is not a religious accommodation rather, it is part of a union-initiated contract demand.
This change came about as a result of union demands brought to the negotiating table, and was agreed upon by Tyson in an effort to reach a contractual agreement with the union. The contract that calls for this change was unanimously recommended by the 12-person union bargaining committee, which included three Somali employees. The contract was then overwhelmingly agreed to by 80-percent of the rank and file membership of the union at the Shelbyville plant.
The Muslim population at the Shelbyville plant is primarily composed of approximately 250 Somali employees, who are political refugees, most of whom came to the plant as a result of refugee resettlement efforts based in Nashville. They were employed at the plant through the Tennessee Department of Employment Security office.
The Shelbyville complex employs approximately 1,200 people. Approximately 1,000 workers are covered by the union agreement at Shelbyville.
Libby Lawson, a Tyson spokeswoman, noted that the plant had three Christian chaplains and prayer rooms for Muslims and Christians alike.
Each plant at Tyson Foods provides a chaplain as an extra benefit for its team members and their families. The chaplain is an ordained minister, endorsed by his or her church to serve as a chaplain. Tyson Chaplain Services provides compassionate pastoral care and ministry to Tyson Team Members and their families, regardless of their religious or spiritual affiliation or beliefs.
Christina Self Tyson Foods, Inc. www.tysonfoodsinc.com 800-233-6332
Last time I checked, Islam was a religion. But that’s OK. I don’t buy Tyson chicken anyhow.
Shelbyville?
That’s right down the road from Springfield.
And this is suppose to make me feel all cozy to know it is only in one area. Who cares, they should be shut down.
Who in their right mind, would knowingly buy food that was processed by Muslims?
Smells like rotten chicken to me!
No more Tyson chicken for me .. in deferrence to the union there in Shelbyville, I’m switching to ham
That part is a lie. The refugee organizations in Nashville didn't know there were Somalians in Nashville until early this year.
As Michael Savage asked a caller who was ok with this yesterday, "how would you feel if they replaced Martin Luther King Day with a religeous holiday?"
islam is not, nor has it ever been, a religion.
See tagline.
L
“Contrary to recent reports, Labor Day is still a holiday at Tyson Foods. This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, TN.”
This is contradictory. It IS a change. It is the principle of the matter. We are then told it is NOT religious but it IS a religious holiday.
Snopes will probably call this another FALSE rumor.
Are these separate but equal prayer rooms or a common area open to use by anyone of any faith?
all the other articles on this had the number of Somalis at 700 out of 1200.
Reverend Martin Luther was identified as a holy man. It is a national religous holiday.
I don't see where they've caved in at all.
omitted the King in error.
So you only have to honor that if you are part of the union?
That seems cost restrictive to me. To run a plant at 30% labor on the whatever muslim holiday.
So are they setting up a system that every employer must allow Muslims to have a “prayer room”?
They didn’t cave. Nothing changed except wording. They allow the non-union members off on Labor Day, but the union members work labor day and get off on the muslim holiday. It’s exactly the same.
Why do we care what two parties agree to in a contract? No one is forcing anyone to do anything.
No, it's not.
“It is one of four United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person”
Or are we supposed to ignore the Reverend in his title?
I don’t see where non-union members get an option. It just says that the policy change came through union negotiations.
250 out of 1200 employees are muslim so the whole plant has to exchange their holidays...how is that fair? What about the other 950?
They kinda, sorta, attempt to explain things here
The numbers have been fuzzy from the start. There's still some explaining to be done.
An individual, not a religion. The fact he was a Reverend has nothing to do with the holiday. It commemorates his civil rights struggles, not his reglious being.
I understand your thinking, and agree with it somewhat. However, it's not recognized as a religous holiday.
Do you ignore the ‘Reverend’ in Jeremiah Wright’s title? Or is he a ‘religous man?’
Just because I love to do it so much, here are some of the good ‘Reverends’ words concerning his flock.
“The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and a few others.”
Wow...that doesn’t sound much different from today’s liberals talking about ‘World opinion’ and ‘unilateral action.’ Dr. King, the Republican man of God, who hung out with America hating hippies and commies and gave speeches to them.
Having Reverand as a title does not make it a religious holiday...Religious holidays reference an event, Christs birth, resurection, passover, etc...
Spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin spin.
Or check links at the bottom of my FR homepage !
That will explain Islamakazism at it’s best !
stay safe....
Labor Day is a celebration of socialism, so replacing it with a death-cult holiday seems to at least keep the balance.
“The majority of employees at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, TN, are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union (RWDSU), an American union that asked for and received Eid al-Fitr, as one of their eight paid holidays, in place of Labor Day. “
yea, what happened to the number? Is is 250 or 700?
It would make no sense to cater to 1/4 or the workforce
Labor day originated in 1882, by unions that were much different from the unions of today
This is an AMERICAN HOLIDAY honoring the AMERICAN WORKER
BOYCOTT TYSON
One of Tyson’s HR people was on FNC yesterday and said the employees have the option of choosing either Labor Day or Eid. She said whether their choice was granted by management depends on the production load at the time.
Didn’t sound right, but that’s what she said.
Bottom-line, this is an attempt to impose sharia on America. This won’t be the last, I can guarantee you! Christmas is coming up soon and we’ll see how much the Muslims and their liberal sympathizers want to eliminate Jesus’ birthday from the calendar.
It was a concession designed to placate unions, many of which wanted a blatantly socialist May 1 holiday. I don’t really have any great love for it.
That’s what I’m sayin’ !
Buy pork, and nothing but pork, from Tyson.
The refugee organizations in Nashville didn't know there were Somalians in Nashville Shelbyville until early this year.
Through a lot of research, it was discovered that refugees are not kept track of very closely. Once they leave a larger city, they fall off the radar.
Whether or not anything is being done for the Somalians in Shelbyville now by organizations in Nashville, I don't know.
Tyson Foods will no longer be in my home. They can recognize all the holidays they want.
What part of "the union asking for the holiday change" doesn't seem to be registering in the brains of the reactionary FReepers?
Nothing is being forced on anyone. The workers asked for it and it was agreed upon under their contract. Would you object so harshly if Jewish workers contracted to have Yom Kippur off? If Irish Catholic workers demanded in negotiations to have off St. Patrick's Day instead of Columbus day?
Where I work we have a paid holiday for the first day of deer season. We don't get off for New Year's Eve. I'd rather it the other way around, but I don't think it's a conspiracy to force me to hunt.
Get a grip people.
I was questioning the number of somali workers
One article said 700, the other 250 (1/4)
I’m just p’d off at the islamazation of America
Perhaps if Jews and/or the Irish made a practice of beheading people in front of cameras, and thousands of Jews/Irish applauded their actions, I’d be willing to bet that the majority would have a problem with Yom Kippur or St. Paddy’s Day.
Poor put-upon Muslims...they just want the freedom to enslave you all. How dare you limit them.
So you think Muslims in America should no longer have the power to enter into contracts?
Whether 700 or 250, the union negotiating team unanimously agreed to request the holiday provision and the membership voted 80 percent to accept the contract.
I don’t even believe its possible to even be a practicing Muslim and a ‘practicing American’ at the same time, the two are so at odds. I don’t remember any sharia law influence in our BOR. I don’t think the FF had such a twisted view of ‘liberty’ that they would allow/welcome the free imigration of a people who by their religion define themselves as anti-freedom, whose intent is to enslave the World, as freely admitted in their holy books, they wouldn’t have allowed this in the ‘name of freedom,’ as you doubt believe. They’d have manned their guns. How do you like that?
Much like I believe its impossible to be an “American Communist.”
Deportation, then, for all Muslims?
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