Hundreds of Muslim workers fired in CO after prayer dispute

[Lion Heart 15,041]

FORT MORGAN, Colo. -- Nearly 200 Muslim workers have been fired from a Cargill meatpacking plant in Colorado, for walking out after a dispute over prayer breaks.

Praying five times a day is a must for many Muslims. But Tony Aden says missing even one of those prayers over a break time dispute caused him and many others to walk away from their jobs. "It don't matter if I don't have a job, my religion is more important," Aden told CBS News.

Cargill spokesperson Michael Martin says prayer is allowed. But he says a misunderstanding of company policy came on December 18th, when 11 workers asked for a break to pray at the same time.

"Coming from that specific work area would have disrupted the workflow so the supervisor told the employees that they could go pray, but they would have to go in smaller numbers than 11," Martin told CBS News. "It would have to be three at a time."

The following Monday, nearly 200 employees from the Muslim community didn't show up to work for three consecutive days. The company fired them all.

Read full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hundreds-of-muslim-workers-fired-after-dispute-over-prayers/

 

[Luiz 4,253]

5 times a day always seemed like a bit much  

how long do these prayers last? is it really taking up that much time? 

[boobtank 9,090]

1 minute ago, Luiz said:

5 times a day always seemed like a bit much  

how long do these prayers last? is it really taking up that much time? 

They aren't long at all, each prayer should not exceed 5 minutes tbh

[lego 44,165]

1 minute ago, Luiz said:

5 times a day always seemed like a bit much  

how long do these prayers last? is it really taking up that much time? 

Like 5 min each? And they are not all during the working hours, maybe 1 or 2. 

[Cocaine Heart 4,768]

1 minute ago, Luiz said:

5 times a day always seemed like a bit much  

how long do these prayers last? is it really taking up that much time? 

They generally very short, less than 5 minutes each and given general working hours, only two of them would of fallen during work time. 

[lego 44,165]

Have to say that it's stupid, idk is this misunderstanding or there's something more, but at least they allowed them to pray. And even 3 at the time it's fine. 

Really weird. 

[Luiz 4,253]

Just now, Cocaine Heart said:

They generally very short, less than 5 minutes each and given general working hours, only two of them would of fallen during work time. 

i remember during a religion class i had there were 2 muslim fellas that would leave in the middle of class almost every day to pray and they wouldnt come back and i was like "why do they leave and miss so much of the class time?"  i thought those prayers must take a bit of time to get through but if its only 5 minutes doubt they cared much for the class  

 

the company set up prayer areas for them i wonder why they wanted them to go 3 at a time :\. is there like a deadline to where the prayers have to be said within a certain time frame? 

 

i'm off to wiki

 

[Cocaine Heart 4,768]

2 minutes ago, Luiz said:

i remember during a religion class i had there were 2 muslim fellas that would leave in the middle of class almost every day to pray and they wouldnt come back and i was like "why do they leave and miss so much of the class time?"  i thought those prayers must take a bit of time to get through but if its only 5 minutes doubt they cared much for the class  

 

the company set up prayer areas for them i wonder why they wanted them to go 3 at a time :\. is there like a deadline to where the prayers have to be said within a certain time frame? 

 

i'm off to wiki

 

Not really a deadline but the first should be from dawn to sunrise, the second just before noon, third in the afternoon, fourth after sunset and the last in the night. 

[mmm 879]

21 minutes ago, Luiz said:

5 times a day always seemed like a bit much  

how long do these prayers last? is it really taking up that much time? 

It takes less than a minute and the prayer spreads out during the day so you wont be prayer 5 times during work time. Im a muslim and live in a muslim country and never have I seen anyone leave the class during prayer time in collage or school.

[Luiz 4,253]

found this on wiki

Five daily prayers[edit]

The five daily prayers are obligatory (fard) and they are performed at times determined essentially by the position of the Sun in the sky. Hence, salah times vary at different locations on the Earth.

Video about Salat

Printable Prayer Description

Fajr (pre-dawn)[edit]

Main article: Fajr

Fajar begins at subh saadiq - true dawn or morning twilight when the morning light appears across the full width of the sky and ends at sunrise

Dhuhr (midday)[edit]

Main article: Dhuhr

The Dhuhr prayer starts after the sun passes its zenith, and lasts almost 20min(approx) before Asr.It's better to say the salah in between 2 hours after the Azan has been announced from Mosque.

Asr (afternoon)[edit]

Main article: Asr

The Asr prayer starts when the shadow of an object is the same length as the object itself (or, according to Hanafi fiqh, twice its length) plus the shadow length at Dhuhr, and lasts till sunset. Asr can be split into two sections; the preferred time is before the sun starts to turn orange, while the time of necessity is from when the sun turns orange until sunset.

Maghrib (sunset)[edit]

Main article: Maghrib

The Maghrib prayer begins when the sun sets, and lasts till the red light has left the sky in the west.

Isha'a (night)[edit]

Main article: Isha'a

The Isha'a prayer starts when the red light is gone from the western sky, and lasts until the rise of the "white light" (fajar sadiq) in the east. The preferred time for Isha'a is before midnight, meaning halfway between sunset and sunrise.

Video Salat Isha'a in Makkah and Madinah.

 

it looks like its only like 2 or possibly 3 prayers need to be said during work hours. seems like something that should be easily worked out :\

[CannaeDrive 3,412]

It's their choice, no big deal.

[River 127,357]

The subject is kinda misleading.. they were fired because they didn't show up to work for 3 days and not because of the prayers dispute..

If I didn't read the article I would be angry at the company and how Islamophobic they are but after I read I understood that not to show to work for 3 days is a reason to fire someone.. no matter who they are.

 

Also, "It don't matter if I don't have a job, my religion is more important,". here is the problem. this needs to be changed if they want a better life in not a Muslim country. it can worked on, they will have to do some compromises, not only them of course, but this idea of "my religion is more important" should stop..

[lego 44,165]

@Luiz It's confusing, are all 200 of them praying/practising? Maybe the issue is the time frame, if only 3 go per time, not all of them would make it to pray on time? If they're in bigger group, they'd finish faster.

That's why in the beginning of article one is talking about 'missing the prayer'.

Also I don't get this

"Jaylani Hussein represents 150 workers who are now without a job.

"Now we are getting supervisors who are telling our clients to go home if they wanted to pray," Hussein said. "If they are denied their basic rights to practice their faith reasonably at their employment, they seem to be losing one of the basic fundamental rights."

 

This is contradicting the statement of that spokesperson.

[Melech 9,900]

If you put your religion over your job, then its your problem. Doesn't matter if Muslim, Jew or Christian. 

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

I'd say this is the supervisors fault. He should have been well aware of when and how many people can take a break at the same time. Most supervisors break the law or company policy by not sending people on a 15 min break on time. If the supervisor were more organized this wouldn't happen. Just by being organized these workers would have been happy with their breaks and when employees are happy there is more production at work. This is some dumb supervisor thinking he has the power. We've all had that supervisor who thinks they know everything and who thinks they are doing you a favor by sending you on break on time.