United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that "anti-immigrant bloggers and conservative commentators have . . . berated Tyson, urging a boycott," for having negotiated a contract that "substitutes a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the eight paid holidays" at a plant in Shelbyville, TN.[1] -- The contract was signed in November, but "the holiday provision largely escaped public notice until a local newspaper published an article about it last week," Steven Greenhouse said. -- An example of the reaction of bigots is posted below: a Christian Newswire piece proclaiming that "Our Founding Fathers were Christians and celebrating a Muslim Holiday in place of an American holiday was never intended to happen in America."[2] -- BACKGROUND: The question of the religious character of the U.S. has been much explored of late by historians. -- A recent well-researched volume on religion and the founding of the Republic by a Harvard-trained church historian sums things up in this way: "From the moment the new government opened for business, the question of whether the young country should take on the cultural trappings of its English past or fashion itself on the French Enlightenment model spurred heated debate. Initial discussions exploded into fierce animosities, pitching absolutists on both sides into a war of conflicting ideals that threatened to tear the country in two. At the presidential level, these contests took on the character of religious crusades. The apostles of divine order were victorious first, then the champions of sacred liberty. Competing claims by today's secular humanists on the left and Christian activists on the right that the U.S. government was erected on a secular or Christian foundation are, in a sense, both correct. John Adams presided over a Christian federal authority, Jefferson over a secular one. From the first contested national election onward, avatars of sacred liberty and defenders of divine order hurled imprecations at each other that would make a modern talk-show host blush. The religious political divide came perilously close to sundering the nation during the War of 1812. But then something remarkable happened. In 1817, with the inauguration of President Monroe, followed shortly thereafter by the disestablishment of the state church of Connecticut, an armistice was struck. . . . After decades of religious-political turbulence, the ship of state steadied, liberty protected, religion fostered, and order served" (Forrest Church, So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle over Church and State [Harcourt, 2007], p. 6)....

The union that represents workers at a Tyson Foods poultry plant in Tennessee has negotiated a contract that substitutes a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the eight paid holidays at the plant.

The provision, which was proposed by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, has delighted the plant’s Somali workers, who account for hundreds of its 1,200 employees. But it has infuriated many outsiders, leading some to denounce Tyson and the union alike.

“You are a union that is proud of achieving a Muslim holiday and prayer room?” one person wrote the union. “A union in the U.S.A., a country based on Christianity. You call yourselves Americans? Have you forgotten 9/11?”

Another wrote: “You had no right to drop Labor Day. Muslim employees must integrate Labor Day into THEIR lives if they are going to live in America.”

Stung by the criticism, Stuart Appelbaum, the union’s president, said the decision was fully consistent with the spirit of Labor Day.

“We in the labor movement have always understood that unions are only strong when we work to protect the dignity of all faiths, and that includes Muslims,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who also serves as president of the Jewish Labor Committee.

“What we negotiated was the will of the workers,” said Mr. Appelbaum, who added that his was the first union to negotiate a paid day off for a Muslim holiday and that he was sure Tyson would not be the last employer to agree.

The plant affected is in the town of Shelbyville, some 40 miles south of Nashville. Under a five-year contract there, Id al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, is now one of the plant’s eight paid holidays.

Union officials said the two Somali immigrants on the union’s eight-member bargaining committee had been eager to make Id al-Fitr (pronounced eed-al-FIT-tr) a paid holiday. The union agreed to do so at the expense of Labor Day in part because it did not want to trade Christmas, the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or other existing paid holidays, and in part because Tyson has usually required the plant’s employees to work on Labor Day anyway. (Employees received a holiday premium for working that day.)

“We had worked 23 Labor Days in a row; it wasn’t like it was a day to spend with our family,” said Randy Hadley, a union representative who helped negotiate the contract.

Mr. Hadley said both management and union were surprised when nearly all the Somali workers -- Tyson puts their number at 250, the union at nearly 400 -- did not work on Id al-Fitr last year. They were not paid, but the plant almost had to close that day, said Mr. Hadley, adding that management was “elated” by the proposal to make Id al-Fitr a holiday.

The contract was negotiated last year and approved by workers in November. But the holiday provision largely escaped public notice until a local newspaper published an article about it last week. Many anti-immigrant bloggers and conservative commentators have since berated Tyson, urging a boycott.

Thrown on the defensive, the company issued a statement Monday saying: “Contrary to recent reports, Labor Day is still a holiday at Tyson Foods. The issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville.”

“This is not a religious accommodation,” the statement added. “Rather, it is a union-initiated contract demand.”

Libby Lawson, a Tyson spokeswoman, noted that the plant had three Christian chaplains, and prayer rooms for Muslims and Christians alike.

WASHINGTON -- "The Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, is no longer acting like an American Company because they have decided not to celebrate Labor Day," according to Don Swarthout, President of Christians Reviving America's Values (CRAVE).

Swarthout asked, "How can a company like Tyson just decide to ignore the fact that Labor Day is a recognized American Holiday?" However, Tyson has decided to ignore Labor Day as a holiday and celebrate Eid al-Fitr as a way to cater to their Somali Islamic employees.

Swarthout said, "What makes this particularly upsetting is that Tyson is replacing a secular holiday with an Islamic Religious Holiday. If we wanted to replace a secular holiday with a Christian holiday the company or the courts would not allow us to do such a thing."

People we allowed to come into this country should want to learn our culture and to live like Americans. If a holiday is obscure by the standards of society, then in America you have to accept the fact that holiday is obscure and move on with your life.

We still live in America and therefore we should celebrate all of our American holidays. Somali Muslims should not expect to come to our country and then tell us what holidays we have to celebrate. If they come to America they should try to become like Americans, speak the language and do as Americans do.

Our Founding Fathers were Christians and celebrating a Muslim Holiday in place of an American holiday was never intended to happen in America. Like the local Shelbyville newspaper said about this situation, "Once again, American Traditions are pushed aside."

Swarthout said, "What makes Tyson think they have the right to replace our American holidays by substituting a Religious Muslim holiday in its place? This nation was founded by Christians and we are still the majority, not the Muslims."

Swarthout concluded by saying, "We must take pride in our country, celebrate our recognized holidays and set a proper example for those who come to our country. The American people are sick and tired of this type of treatment!"