USA-(Puntland post)- About 190 workers, most of them immigrants from Somalia, have been fired from a Colorado meat packing plant after walking off the job during a dispute over workplace prayer.
The workers walked off their jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan earlier this month. Jaylani Hussein with the Council on American-Islamic Relations says that depending on the season, the Muslim workers prayed at different times of the day. The Somali workers claimed a decision was made at the plant to change the practice.
He says that on Tuesday, Minnesota-based Cargill fired most of the workers who walked out.
Cargill spoke to 9NEWS to clarify their side of the story, saying their attendance and religious accommodation policy had not changed.
“In the Fort Morgan plant, a reflection area for use by all employees to pray was established in April 2009, and is available during work shifts based on our ability to adequately staff a given work area,” the Cargill statement to 9NEWS reads. “While reasonable efforts are made to accommodate employees, accommodation is not guaranteed every day and is dependent on a number of factors that can, and do, change from day to day. This has been clearly communicated to all employees.
Cargill makes every reasonable attempt to provide religious accommodation to all employees based on our ability to do so without disruption to our beef processing business at Fort Morgan.”
According to Cargill, the first shift at the Fort Morgan plant was full staffed, but the second shift was short due to about 200 Somali employees not reporting to work.
“Multiple attempts were made to discuss the situation with local Somali employees without a successful resoluting, including a Tuesday meeting at the plant management’s request,” the Cargill statement reads. “Plant management and union representatives met with Somali leaders without resolution. Based on company policy, employees who do not show up for work, or call in, for three consecutive days were are risk for termination of their employment. Efforts were made to communicate to employees who did not show up for work to ensure they understood their jobs would be at jeopardy.”
It was at that point and due to that policy that Cargill decided to terminate about 190 people, Cargill says.