Grievance Filed Over Muslim Firings

Image by bmooneyatwork via FlickrUFCW Files Grievances Over Swift's Firing
Of Muslim Workers in Prayer Break Dispute


United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7 Sept. 12 filed grievances contesting the terminations of 111 employees of JBS Swift & Co. and claiming religious discrimination over a dispute that originated in Muslim worker demands for prayer-break schedules during Ramadan.

Claiming wrongful termination, UFCW maintained that Swift did not follow the proper steps of the collective bargaining contract's disciplinary procedure when it fired production workers Sept. 9 at its meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., Local 7 spokesman Manny Gonzales said.

UFCW also charged that the workers were harassed and discriminated against based on their religious belief, Gonzales told BNA Sept. 12.

In response to meetings during the week of Sept. 1 with representatives of Muslim leaders, Swift adjusted the lunch period for workers on its second shift by more than one hour to address their concerns, Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid said in a statement Sept. 10.

The workers had initiated talks with the company to adjust the lunch break for some 220 Muslim workers on the second shift to 7:30 p.m. for prayer time during September, the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month-long period beginning Sept. 1 during which Muslims focus on their faith through prayer and through fasting from sunrise to sunset.


Workers Suspended

On Sept. 5, however, many employees walked off their jobs without proper authorization, according to the company, which said the action was a direct violation of its collective bargaining agreement with UFCW Local 7. The company suspended those 220 employees and notified them through the union at noon Sept. 9 that if they failed to report to work when recalled that afternoon, they would be terminated immediately, according to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
About 120 of the suspended workers returned to their jobs Sept. 9, and Swift fired the remaining 100 or so workers Sept. 10, Smid said.

According to Gonzales, when the 220 Muslim workers left the production line at 7:30 p.m., workers remaining on the line protested, and managers "reneged on the deal," told the Muslim workers they were in violation, and told them to turn over their identification badges.

About 1,500 employees work on the second shift, according to Swift.

When employees leave the production line, safety concerns arise because the line speed does not decrease and remaining workers, often working with sharp objects, must speed their pace of an already heavy workload to make up for others who left, Gonzales said. For that reason, Local 7 objects to "side deals outside the contract," he said.


Relatively New Employees

Many of the Muslim workers are immigrants from Somalia and relatively new employees of Swift, hired within the past year to work at the meat packinghouse in Greeley, a UFCW spokeswoman told BNA. On Dec. 12, 2006, ICE raided Swift plants in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah, detaining 1,282 individuals on immigration and criminal charges (239 DLR A-11, 12/13/06 ). Many of the new group of employees at the Greeley plant filled the vacancies left after the raid, she said.
Local 7 planned to hold information meetings with workers over the weekend of Sept. 13-14 to air questions and determine what they want, Gonzales said.

In a statement Sept. 11, the company said that "JBS is grateful to employ a multi-cultural workforce and works closely with all employees and their union representation to accommodate religious practices in a reasonable, safe, and fair manner to all involved."

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