|
Ramadan sees birth of emerging Muslim labor movement
Religion News Service
September 29, 2008 Monday
By NICOLE NEROULIAS
Hundreds of Muslim workers at two meat processing plants in Colorado and Nebraska walked off the job earlier this month, protesting their employer's refusal to grant time to pray and break a 12-hour fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
About 100 workers were fired in Greeley, Colo., followed by about 80 in Grand Island, Neb. JBS Swift & Co. insists the terminations had nothing to do with religion, but rather with employees refusing to return to work.
Whatever its outcome, the stand-off and others like it may mark the start of a grassroots Muslim labor movement in the United States, as immigrants push for the kinds of religious accommodations they believe their Christian counterparts take for granted.
"American Muslims in recent years have become more organized and aware of our rights as Americans," said Ameena Mirza Qazi, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "As American Muslims become more a part of the American fabric as educators, professionals, leaders, day laborers, and factory workers we increasingly avail ourselves of rights that every American values."
About one-fifth of the workers at the two JBS Swift plants are Muslim, many of them Somali immigrants. The United Food and Commercial Workers union represents employees at both sites, but has had trouble negotiating because of counter-protests by other workers, who say it's not fair to grant time off to a religious minority.
Nevertheless, the disgruntled Muslim workers will continue working within the union to educate co-workers about their needs, rather than form a separate bargaining organization, said Christina Abraham, civil rights director for CAIR in Chicago.
"They shouldn't separate themselves from the other employees in requesting fair working accommodations," she said. "There hasn't been any kind of movement to create a Muslim workers union, because we feel this is an issue that potentially any employee of any religious background will face."
Interfaith Worker Justice, a national organization that engages the religious community in low-wage worker issues, is carefully watching the recent protests. When a union works on behalf of Muslim immigrants, as with a contract for Ohio janitors negotiated to include prayer breaks last year, the wider community benefits from increased dialogue and cross-cultural cooperation, said Kim Bobo, IWJ executive director.
"Muslims are the newest immigrants, it's a religion that we're not all that familiar with in society, and we've got to kind of grow and learn about what is appropriate for religious accommodations," she said. "It's clearly a place where the union has the opportunity to help educate the total membership and work out accommodations."
The sunset prayer is one of five daily prayers in Islam. Workplace disputes over prayer breaks periodically come up, Abraham said. Ensuring observance of the sunset prayer is crucial during Ramadan, which ends Oct. 1 this year, because Muslims cannot eat or drink before performing it. The prayer only takes about five minutes, followed by 10 minutes to break the daytime fast, she explained.
About 20 employees who were fired last year for insisting on taking prayer breaks at JBS Swift's Nebraska plant filed charges of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for denial of religious accommodation, according to Abraham.
Company spokeswoman Tamara Smid declined to comment on negotiations with employees or pending legal action. In a statement, she said, "JBS values its diverse work force and has a long track record of making significant accommodations to employees. We work closely with all employees and union representation to accommodate religious practices in a reasonable, safe and fair manner."
Last month, a Tyson Foods plant in Tennessee that had replaced Labor Day with Eid al-Fitr the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan as one of eight paid holidays decided to reinstate its original schedule in response to community outrage. Next year, the Muslim workers, who make up about a quarter of the plant's 1,200 employees, will instead have the option of taking Eid al-Fitr off in lieu of another paid holiday.
CAIR and local Muslim organizations are working on public education campaigns to reduce hostility against such requests. CAIR has also asked the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission to set up workshops to help the employees file discrimination charges against Swift, Abraham said.
"It always surprises me when I hear, `they should just deal with it, this isn't their country and they need to just work or leave,"' she said. "People who say that don't really understand what this country stands for and that the rights that it protects applies to everybody, regardless of where they're from."
|
|
|
CAIR-LA ACTION ALERT
Call Congressman Ed Royce and Urge him to Drop Defamatory Rhetoric Linking Islam to Terrorism
(LOS ANGELES, 8/7/08) – CAIR Greater Los Angeles Area is urging American Muslims and other people of conscience to call Congressman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) today and urge him to stop using defamatory language linking the faith of Islam to terrorism.
In recent newsletters and speeches, Rep. Royce has repeatedly used phrases such as “Islamist terrorism” to refer to acts of violence and terror.
In a letter sent to Congressman Royce today, local interfaith and community leaders requested that he drop such language and stated:
|
|
Read more...
|
|
August 7, 2008
Honorable Congressman Ed Royce
305 North Harbor Blvd. Suite 300
Fullerton, CA 92832
Dear Congressman Royce:
As a diverse group of Southern California interfaith leaders, intellectuals and activists, we are deeply concerned by your continued use of inflammatory rhetoric linking Islam to terrorism.
For example, in your June and July newsletters you stated, “Given the threat from Islamist terrorism facing our country, we need to be acting urgently to protect the United States everyday.”
|
|
Read more...
|
|
CAIR - Greater Los Angeles Area and the Islamic Institute of Orange County Present
WHO TO VOTE FOR IN 2008?
Find out at the
Southern California Muslim Community: 2008 Candidate Forum
Meet
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
2nd Muslim Member Elected to the U.S. Congress
& other local Southern California politicians and candidates
Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 at 2:00 p.m.
Islamic Institute of Orange County
1220 N. State College Blvd. Anaheim, CA 92806
Visit www.cair2008election.com for more information.
|
|
Read more...
|
| |
|
 CAIR-LA is grateful to Entertainment Night sponsor,
Amana Mutual Funds,
for its generous support of the event. www.amanafunds.com
---
600 Turn Out for CAIR-LA Entertainment Night for Civil Rights
 (ANAHEIM, 6/11/08) -- Some 600 people turned out on Saturday for the 4th Annual Entertainment Night for Civil Rights hosted by the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) at the Heritage Forum, Anaheim.
CAIR-LA President Fawad Yacoob welcomed attendees to an evening of clean, fun entertainment that offered the Southern California Muslim community a chance to relax and enjoy comedy and other performances while supporting CAIR's civil rights work. Comedians Preacher Moss, Azeem, Omar Regan, and Joe Recca offered a humorous look at the day-to-day challenges many Muslims face living in the U.S. post-9/11. The evening also featured a performance by turntablist Kidragon, and was emceed by Sam Pierstorff, the poet laureate of Modesto.
CAIR honored three local young people with Muslim Youth  Activism Awards for their outstanding efforts in civil, social and religious activism. The award recipients are: Adel Syed, an incoming University of California, Davis student and a resident of Rowland Heights; and Nada and Huda Kaoud, California State University San Bernardino students and residents of Moreno Valley.
Also recognized were journalists Samir and Pat Twair and
young filmmaker Lena Khan for their extraordinary efforts in building bridges and correcting stereotypes about Muslim- and Arab-Americans.
SEE: "A Land Called Paradise"
The night also included brief remarks by CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush on the status of Muslim civil rights in the U.S. Ayloush discussed the recent Southern California Muslims' trip to Manzanar, which was the first of 10 internment camps that held Japanese-Americans during World War II. A two-minute trailer on the trip was shown too.
 "It is easy to feel disheartened during difficult times, especially for Muslims who endure continued Islamophobia and challenges to their civil rights," said Ayloush, commenting on the choice to combine comedy and civil rights. "Such an entertainment night helps lift the Muslim community's spirits and boosts its morale."
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
|
|
|
Blog 
