Swift Plant Firings

Labor law experts say assembly line complicates Swift situation

By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News, 9/13/200

The Swift company in Greeley has faced a great deal of controversy over the past couple of years. The first was the large scale illegal immigration raid that ended in the deportation of hundreds of immigrants. Now they are in a battle with their mostly Muslim employees, or former employees. It is over the fact many workers requested an earlier off time and later lunch break so that they could eat at sunrise and sunset like is the tradition in the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. Instead of meeting that compliance which is federal law to allow employees time in order to practice their religion, the Swift company laid them off. However the Swift company maintains it was due to worker incompetence. This whole ordeal brings up a point far beyond the Swift company. It really asks the question, "How is Islam viewed in post 9/11 America?" There is no doubt that Muslims are looked at very differently now by a vast amount of the population and I don't believe it's out of hate or a feeling of superiority but out of fear and misunderstanding. When the news is dominated by reports of, "Radical Islam," it sends a message to many people that the overall message of Islam is a violent and radical one, where in truth many Muslim societies are much more progressive than Iran or Islamic terrorist groups. If there was a serial killer in this country it is very unlikely that his or her religion would have anything to do with it and even if it did then it wouldn't peg the whole religion as a violent person or radical. With all these factors I think that the prejudice towards Islam is really more of a subconscious one. That's why I think that if it had been any other religion requesting such time off the plant might of provided it. It's definitely a controversial issue and should be dealt with in an appropriate manner.