USA, TN: Tyson Foods Shelbyville Plant and Labor Day

For several days now the haters have been voicing outrage over the new union contract at Tyson’s Shelbyville, TN plant which added Eid al Fitr as a paid holiday and dropped Labor Day. Since most of the union membership is Muslim (a majority of 700 out of 1200) and the contract allows for only a fixed number of paid holidays, this change makes sense. (It also only affects union members.)

Laughably, some commenters are incensed about according paid-holiday status to a religious holiday (conveniently forgetting about Christmas, I guess).

For what it’s worth, many people work on Labor Day. Its importance as a national holiday has decreased over the years and it doesn’t have the significance or traditions that we accord to Independence Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving or (for Christians) Christmas. I’m sure all of this went into consideration for the decision. Plus, with a mostly Muslim workforce, so few people would come to work on Eid al Fitr that the plant couldn’t operate properly anyway.

Plant Drops Labor Day For Muslim Holiday
More Than Half Of Tyson Plant’s Workforce Muslim

(WSMV)

UPDATE AUGUST 9:

The union contract has been amended to include 9 paid holidays, including Labor Day and Eid al Fitr. Plant workers at Tyson’s Shelbyville plant will be able to do what they’ve done for the past 23 years on Labor Day — they’ll work. Meanwhile, media coverage and public reaction have put the Somali workers on notice regarding how much they are hated.