Apparently a Tyson Foods plant in Shelbyville Tennessee, as part of a labor contract negotiation, has agreed to substitute a paid holiday for Eid al-Fitr in exchange for Labor Day.
To say this has caused a bit of a stir would be an accurate statement. Mostly the reaction is negative and spawning everything from nasty letters to the union and Tyson as well as calls to boycott the company. Apparently lots of folks seem upset that accommodations are being made for Islam while Christianity is pushed to the sidelines in schools and the work place.
Really? I don’t know about you but I get Good Friday as a paid holiday as well as Christmas.
The fact is that it’s not unusual to make accommodations when there is a local majority or large minority. In the New York City area it’s not unusual for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, to be a school holiday.
To my mind this is democracy and Freedom of Religion working the way it should work. There are a large number of Muslims working at the Shelbyville plant and the rank and file voted to accept the new contract by a margin of 80%.
So what’s the problem?
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