Nearly 400 Muslim workers who walked off the job Friday night at a Greeley slaughterhouse stayed home Monday to protest the denial of time to pray when their religious fasting ends during the workday.
Officials of the union that represents the workers, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, met with managers at JBS Swift & Co. on Monday over accommodations for the workers, mostly Somalis, who say they have not been allowed to break for food, water and prayer when religious fasting in observance of Ramadan ends each day, UFCW spokesman Manny Gonzales said.
The workers stayed home Monday while negotiations continued, employee Ahmed Mohamud said.
“They’re working with us,” Mohamud said of Swift managers, noting that a resolution is expected today.
Company officials would acknowledge in a prepared statement only that an undisclosed number of workers walked out Friday night and that Swift was trying to make accommodations for the workers’ religious practices.
The employees walked off Friday night after they were told to keep working rather than break to end their daily fast, employees said. They said bathrooms were locked and water fountains shut off.
“They’re upset with their prayer time, and we’re filing appropriate grievances to be sure their needs are being met,” Gonzales said of the workers.
The fast occurs daily during the Muslim holiday Ramadan, which began Sept. 1 and runs from dawn to sunset for a month. Fasting is meant to teach practitioners patience, humility and sacrifice.
The 12-hour fast ends at about midshift, when workers are processing hundreds of head of cattle each hour at the Greeley facility, one of the nation’s largest cattle plants.
A similar incident occurred at a Swift plant in July 2007. Somali workers at the company’s plant in Grand Island, Neb., said they were harassed or fired for attempting to pray at sunset, part of the daily prayers required of Muslims. Three workers were fired for walking off production lines without permission.
Worker Omar Clarke, 24, said workers in Greeley weren’t getting the proper number of breaks each shift — including one at 7:15 p.m., at about sunset.
“After meeting with the big bosses today, we learned about the proper breaks,” he said. “If we properly get the breaks, there is no problem. We’d be back at work on time.”
Workers say they initially had been allowed to break at sundown for food and water, but that changed Friday after complaints from non-Muslim employees who said they were forced to continue working while the Muslims were allowed the break, Clarke said.
Federal law requires companies to accommodate workers’ religious preferences when possible.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com
