No call, no show, walk off = lose job

Well it looks like Colorado has the distinction of having the first Muslim conflict of the new year in the US.

A Somali worker cuts and moves on the line as he trims beef in the manufacturing department at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colo. (Joe Amon, Denver Post file)

Kieran Nicholson reports in the Denver Post,

About 190 workers, most of them immigrants from Somalia, have been fired from a meat packing and distribution plant on Colorado’s Eastern Plains for walking off the job to protest a workplace prayer dispute.

Ten days ago more than 200 workers walked off their jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan.

Some workers later returned, but the majority stayed away as representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) negotiated on their behalf.

On Tuesday Cargill, through its attorneys, fired the workers who were holding out, said Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman and executive director of CAIR.

Cargill is a Kansas-based company.

Some of the fired employees have been working at the plant for up to 10 years, Hussein said. Cargill had previously allowed Muslim employees to pray at the plant, even providing a prayer room, he said.

…Hussein said company officials told him the mass dismissal was over a “no call, no show, walk out.”

…The workers have previously been using time carved out of a 15-minute break period, or time from their unpaid 30-minute lunch break.

Cargill has a policy stating that any workers who are terminated can not reapply for a position for 6 months.

…Cargill could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. Last week, Mike Martin, director of communications for Cargill, told the Greeley Tribune that employees of all faiths are allowed to use a reflection area, but that because employees work on an assembly line only one or two at a time can use the area, to avoid slowing production.

He told the Tribune company policies had not changed.

The workers earn $14-per-hour and up, and are represented by a union, Teamsters Local 445. About 2,000 people are employed at the plant.

Read more here.