JBS Swift: Fight night at the factory

A fight breaks out in the cafeteria and now the A Shift is getting into the action.

Day four of strikes at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Grand Island opened with a majority of A-shift workers (6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) walking off the job Thursday in a continued counterprotest -- and ended with police called to a reported riot in the Swift cafeteria. Reports Thursday night from workers at the scene indicated that a fight broke out between about 20 to 30 Somalian and Hispanic workers, but that the scuffle was under control in less than half an hour. A police team was called to Swift about 9 p.m. and entered the building. Shortly after, a group of Somalian workers were seen exiting Swift from north side doors and heading toward the parking lots. There were no immediate reports of injuries and no formal comment from either police or corporate officials.

The police later said:

Falldorf said there apparently was a verbal altercation, but no fight or physical altercation of any kind. "There was no criminal activity," he said. When police officers arrived, they talked with JBS Swift officials from Greeley who had come to mediate the disagreements that have occurred this past week on providing some means for Muslim Somalis to observe Ramadan. Falldorf said there had been a verbal altercation in the cafeteria that had gotten "loud," but the situation had de-escalated by the time police officers arrived. But The Independent received a phone call from a woman at the plant who said there was "a riot." As the woman's conversation continued, she said Somali employees were banging their helmets in the cafeteria.


The company has thrown out the "compromise" and is telling the workers to "get through the nine days left of Ramadan and then the plant schedule would return to normal."

The quote of the day comes from clueless union official Dan Hoppes:

The whole situation left Hoppes bewildered.

"I don't know what happened," Hoppes said. "I think we have problems between races."

Islam is not a race, Dan.

P.S. I thought the report that the Somalis all headed for the exits and ran to the parking lot when the cops arrived was very interesting. Maybe ICE needs to be paying JBS Swift a courtesy call?

UPDATE: 11:30am. This could explain the people making for the exits...

About 50 to 80 Muslims quit at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant Thursday night.

Dan Hoppes, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 22, said the matter stems from the recent debate over break time for the purpose of prayer during the holy month of Ramadan. "There were some Muslim people who wanted to get the rest of the people to back them to moving their (dinner) break to an earlier time, and when that did not happen, the rest of the people went back to work and those people protesting got loud and boisterous. It wasn't a physical altercation at all," Hoppes said.

But there was fear that it might get physical, so the police were called into the Swift plant about 9 p.m.

"By the time the police got there, it was settled down, and several of them went ahead and quit or left the plant," Hoppes said. "They were told either go back to work or leave."

"Some of them chose to leave -- to quit," Hoppes said.

JBS Swift: Muslim pig in a poke watch

Mohammed Rage, bald is beautiful.

The company confirms 86 firings, not 150 or 200 as stated by the Muslims.
Why let facts get in the way of their protest though.

Don't be sitting with the men, ladies. That is haraam, you little vixens.

The Muslims are going ahead with their plans to threaten negotiate with Swift. They are also pulling out all the stops...Sending a woman with White House ties to DC to bring in some muscle to the action including pressuring the Brazilian parent company by contacting her ramadan dinner buddy, the Brazilian ambassador. Woman takes plight of Somali workers to DC

A Denver woman with ties to the White House has taken the issue concerning Muslims at the JBS Swift & Co. plant to national leaders. During a recent Ramadan dinner at the White House, Seeme Hasan spoke with administrators and the Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. about the firing of about 120 Muslim employees at JBS Swift's Greeley meatpacking plant. The company's parent company is based in Brazil, which has a Muslim population. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Hasan has consulted the U.S. State Department on relationships with Muslim countries and has been an organizer for the White House's annual Ramadan dinner.

It was during that dinner Wednesday, when she shared the situation of the Somali Muslim workers who were fired after they walked off the job because they were not allowed to take breaks to observe the Muslim holiday Ramadan...Brazilian ambassador Roberto Abdenur at the White House dinner.

When she told him of the situation at the plant, she said: "You could feel his pain from his face. He was pained with the subject."


Listen to her, trying to send everybody on a Muslim guilt trip...

Hasan, who is a co-founder of Muslims for America, also said she spoke with a "high-ranking" White House staffer about the potential public relations nightmare the issue could create. "You have some Muslim newspaper pick this up, and they will call Americans heartless," she said. "This can give us a bad public image relationship. We don't need this. We look bad. In America, we look bad."

Funny, to think how Christians are treated in the Muslim world and then to have to listen to this broad call Americans heartless. That's just wack.

A Nebraska anti-discrimination group (http://www.neoc.ne.gov) is reaching out to the Muslims but the Muslims want ACTION not OUTREACH.

A Somali Muslim leader says the state commission that handles discrimination complaints needs to investigate concerns at a Grand Island meatpacking plant, not educate the community.

Somali Muslim advocate Mohamed Rage (RAGE) says the state Equal Opportunity Commission needs to investigate and take action against the JBS Swift and Company plant.

See the video featuring Mohammed Rage, taken after their meeting at a local restaurant here.
It's very instructive. (There sure are some angry looking Muslim lugs hanging about.)

You looking at me?

Meanwhile the natives are restless...Two group attacks reported in East Grand Island and the police are called to a Somali-Sudanese occupied apartment complex 21 times over the span of three days. The police spokesman is quick to point out that this increase in violence is NOT related to the problems at JBS Swift. 'Nothing to see here, move along folks.'

In the first, a Somali man reported being beaten Thursday morning by a group of Sudanese men outside his apartment on Yund Street. In the second, a Sudanese man reported being beaten Sunday morning by a group of Somali men on the stairs leading up to his apartment on Sutherland Street. The two assaults were part of more than two dozen calls to those two apartment complexes over the past several days, said Capt. Robert Falldorf of the Grand Island Police Department. "It's pretty much been an every-night deal," Falldorf said. Falldorf said he doesn't believe the incidents were related to the ongoing dispute over time for prayer at the JBS Swift & Co. plant in Grand Island. But he did say the two complexes, which face each other and are separated only by a parking lot, have been a source of particular tension over the past week. "It was just Sudanese assaulting Somalians and Somalians assaulting Sudanese, and it's kind of mushroomed from there," Falldorf said.

-snip-

Police were called into those complexes nine times from Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning, according to police records. They were also called there five times overnight Saturday and seven times Sunday.

JBS Swift: The pig is still in the poke.

Update 3:06 pm: Muslims decide they will NEGOTIATE with JBS Swift.

For 'negotiate' read 'threaten with legal action'.

About 100 workers met late Sunday morning at an apartment complex and selected representatives to take part in the talks. They're expected to meet this afternoon.

Muslim workers - most of Somali background - have been asking for accommodations with break times to allow prayer at sunset. The issue led to walkouts last week - not only from Muslims but from non-Muslims who protested such accommodations as preferential treatment.

Mohamed Rage of the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization says 180 to 200 Muslim workers have been fired as a result of the dispute. JBS Swift has confirmed 86 firings.

Well, it looks like the fired JBS Swift Muslims are going to meet to discuss what to do next.

Mohamed Rage, who leads the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization, said Saturday that workers at the JBS Swift & Co. plant wanted to hold another protest, but that he urged them not to. Instead, Rage said, all the Muslim workers — including those no longer with the company because of the dispute — will meet Sunday to talk about a resolution.

Stay tuned.

P.S. This headline over at the Omaha World Herald caught my eye, Muslims workers fired at JBS Swift, Cubans Hired. Unfortunately it leads to a completely different article with no mention of Cubans.

Send them swiftly packing, I say.

No prayer, no work!

Talks break down between Muslims and Swift

Company Management is presented with two pages of DEMANDS and GRIEVANCES. They grovel a bit agreeing to find more interpreters and put more Somalis in management. That wasn't good enough for our Muslims friends. Oh no. The meeting grew heated and their was a walkout. Now, the employees face mass termination. If only deportation were next, but no, the Muslim workers vow to seek their day in court. Legal Jihad.

Talks between JBS Swift & Co. officials and Muslim workers seeking prayer breaks during Ramadan broke down Tuesday afternoon and turned into calls of breach of contract. The roughly 250 workers, who've been suspended since walking off the job Friday night, say they will not return to work and may take legal action. They also acknowledge they may face mass terminations.

A mid-afternoon meeting between the Muslim representatives and about 80 of the suspended workers grew heated in a downtown Greeley park when the representatives relayed information to the crowd. When workers learned the company would not allow break times for prayer, many shouted and crowded around a gazebo from which the representatives spoke. Within 30 minutes, workers split into smaller groups and milled around the park.

Complaints of on-the-job discrimination and harassment as well as non-responsive union representation marked the second straight day in which hundreds of Muslims, mostly Somalis who have been hired at Swift in the past year, gathered in the Greeley park.

Graen Isse, an African Swift worker, and several other Muslim workers met with company officials and a union representative for a few hours Tuesday, looking over a two-page list of grievances the Muslims presented. He said company officials verbally agreed to some items, such as requests for more African/Somali supervisors and improved translation for non-English speaking employees. But Isse said the requested prayer breaks -- a major issue for Muslims at all times but especially during Ramadan -- was rejected by management.

"The thing they didn't agree with was the prayer (breaks)," Isse said. "And that was the whole problem from the start." Upon hearing that news, a group of disgruntled Muslim workers clustered around Isse and said, "No prayer, no work."

When a union leader said he would assist those suspended by taking their names and Social Security numbers, his offer was ignored.

Kaise Egal, another Muslim representative, said Swift management conveyed that workers would be fired if they took unauthorized breaks. He said officials noted that the suspended workers, if they reported to work Tuesday afternoon, would be disciplined for their actions last week, and if they had another work-related disciplinary action they'd be fired. Most of the workers expected the company would fire them if they returned to work today.

An official with JBS Swift & Co. did not immediately return calls seeking comment Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, a company official said no workers had been terminated over the Friday incident.

On the matter of breaks, Egal said, "We ask a maximum of 10 minutes" for prayer per shift.

The Muslims said they thought the problem was resolved last Thursday after company officials said the workers could break at 7:30 p.m., earlier than their usual union-contract mandated breaks at about 9:30 p.m. But they said the company, without advance notice, on Friday didn't grant the 7:30 p.m. breaks and instead mobilized to keep workers on production lines. Workers nonetheless began walking out for breaks and, according to the two-page document, "management and administrative employees started harassing and collecting badges from Muslim workers that took breaks as agreed. ... Management blocked restrooms and break areas and that started massive disturbances and conflicts at the plant."

Fernando Rodriquez, who heads the United Food Commercial Workers Local 7 at Swift, the union that represents production workers, on Tuesday explained details of the collective bargaining contract with the gathered Muslims.

He said when an employee works at least eight hours and 12 minutes in a shift, the company must, in accordance with the union contract, give them three breaks -- two 15-minute spans plus a 30-minute break. "You should be covered for your prayer time," Rodriquez said.

Under that scenario, the Muslim workers' second break on the late shift would be about 7:30 p.m. when most of them end their 12-hour Ramadan daily fasts. However, workers said, they haven't been getting three breaks.

Amina Warsame, who has worked at Swift for a year, said she regularly works nine hours and gets two breaks. Others said they work as much as 10 to 12 hours and only have two breaks -- a 30-minute break and a 15-minute break. "We asked the company to give us whatever the union says, and we're happy," Egal said.

Rodriquez said company officials had a different view on the subject of the eight-hour, 12-minute shifts. "The company claims they were not working the majority of (workers who walked off jobs Friday) more than eight hours, 12 minutes" per shift, he said. Therefore, those workers were entitled only to two breaks per shift.

Isse said Tuesdays' meeting with Swift officials wasn't entirely unproductive. Officials said they would work to get more Somalis in management positions as well as provide interpreters for workers seeking answers to questions, he said.

Omar Clarke, a 10-month Swift employee, said he feels the company is in breach of contract "because they never gave us the third break."

Swift released a statement Monday afternoon that said a group of workers left without authorization Friday, and the matter was discussed with union representatives. "JBS Swift desires to accommodate the religious practices of all employees, provided it can do so reasonably, safely and without undue burden," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Muslims' two-page document outlined a list of grievances that extend beyond the current Ramadan issue, including "supervisors and managers that are constantly discriminating against Muslims."

It also detailed events on Friday evening that included harassing a few Somali women who had gone into a locker room to pray, and a shutdown of drinking fountains. (Editor's note: no doubt because they were trying to wash their feet in them.) Khadra Abdullahi, 22, said a supervisor stepped on her back as she was laying on the floor to pray on Friday evening. The supervisor, she said, told her work wasn't the place for exercising and then pushed her against a wall.

Abdi Karim, 23, said he was told he couldn't drink from a fountain Friday evening and "they wouldn't let me go to the bathroom for a regular bathroom break."

Federal law requires firms to accommodate, as best as possible, employees' religious practices.

The Muslim workers said they plan to take the matter to court if they can't reach a settlement with Swift.

This week's actions are rooted in events at the plant on Friday. That afternoon, about 150 non-Muslim Swift workers protested the company's break-time accommodation of the Muslims.

Manny Gonzales, spokesman for the UFCW Local 7, said Tuesday the union objected to what company officials did because it felt "the company was trying to sidestep the union to make this deal with workers. ... It's sort of how you get these sort of disagreements."

While some Muslim workers said their complaints to union representatives have been ignored, Gonzales said the union will support them. He said if the Muslim workers are terminated in a way the union deems unfair, the union will step in to protect their rights and employment. "Obviously, we want to accommodate the workers so they're able to observe their religious freedoms, and we believe the contract already has language in it that protects the workers' religious freedoms of Ramadan," he said.

CAIR: The Muslim pig in a poke at JBS Swift.

Group in talks with Greeley plant about Muslims for a year. In talks? More like agitating and shit disturbing, if you ask me.

A volunteer attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Wednesday that CAIR has been negotiating for a year with JBS Swift & Co. about break times for Muslim workers.

A volunteer attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Wednesday that CAIR has been negotiating for a year with JBS Swift & Co. about break times for Muslim workers.

Rima Kapitan, with CAIR's Chicago office, on Wednesday met with Muslim workers recently fired by JBS Swift. She said CAIR is coordinating with an attorney retained by about 60 of the fired workers.

Kapitan said more talks are planned this week between CAIR and national officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers, the union that represents production workers at Swift.

JBS Swift: Muslim pig in a poke watch

Fired workers unite.

Former JBS Swift employees, Muslim malcontents and professional shit disturbers embark on their "long walk to justice..."

...collecting unemployment, worker's comp and refugee assistance every step of the way, no doubt.

And what a surprise - the local state Democratic representative is there for them...as are a host of government assistance organizations to help them out. With all the special treatment these people get, no wonder they expect JBS Swift to do everything but bend over and kiss their a&& in Macy's window. Everyone else sure seems to!

Attorney John Bowen, along with other state representatives -- including Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley -- spoke Saturday during a meeting at the Union Colony Civic Center and assured the Muslim workers, fired for not going to work because of a conflict about Ramadan accommodations, that they have rights. "The company will argue that you engaged in a strike that violated the contract," Bowen said. "We will require them to prove for each of you that that happened."

Bowen told more than 100, mostly Somalis, that the company violated several provisions in its contract. JBS officials contend the Muslim workers violated the contracts. In preparation for legal action, Bowen said the fired workers need to document how and when they were fired. Bowen said he filed 90 employee grievances Friday, and he expects to file more Monday. He has also filed a grievance on behalf of the union. "The situation you find yourself in is as workers is not unique, but it is a difficult one," Bowens said. "Your situation is complex."

...


Riesberg promised the crowd he would do his part to ensure they are treated fairly. "We need to spend a lot of time negotiating with Swift so you can have your jobs back," said Riesberg, who fielded questions from frustrated former employees. Riesberg assured the Somalis that they are welcome in Greeley. Without guarantee that they will get their jobs back, people at the meeting were urged to register for unemployment and file for workman's compensation.

Programs such as the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Colorado State Refugee Services Program are in place to help the Somalis survive this transition, the workers were told. Amber Tafoya with the coalition said she has spoken with employees who were laid off and believes JBS officials were in error. "We will be with you on your long walk to justice," Tafoya said. "I'm confident that you as a community have the solution to your problems."

Painfully PC Dhimmi alert: Jim Reisberg's website.

Related posts can be found here.

JBS Swift: Muslim pig in a poke watch.

Meanwhile, back at the JBS Swift plant in Grand Island, NE. (all related posts here.)

400 workers walkout in protest of new work rules. Some additional deets:

About 400 workers at a Grand Island meatpacking plant have walked off the job in a counterprotest after management altered the workweek to accommodate Muslim workers in a prayer dispute.

White, Hispanic, Vietnamese and African-American workers walked out after clocking in for the second shift Wednesday afternoon. They objected to a temporary break schedule that leaves that shift short hours Monday through Friday. It also forces them to work Saturday to earn at least 40 hours of pay.

(A tip of the meat cleaver to NEWEST posse member and veritable fount of info regarding the refugee time bomb going off in our midst, Refugee Resettlement Watch.)

Man. I would have loved to have been here to see this action going down.
Note: The Sudanese are Christians and have not joined the Muslim Somalis protest.

Odd. The American workers don't like working shorter hours and getting paid less. Or even working on Saturday, their day off, to accommodate the "Muslim Pray, Divide and Conquer Group." What's wrong with them??? Why aren't they honoring their Muslim overlords??? I hope you know me well enough by now to know there's a /sarc tag coming here.

Instead of Norma Ray, we have 'Norman Reyes'.

Plant management speaks to the crowd - but the crowd wasn't having any of it.
And I don't blame them - read on pilgrims.

WTF? Management has to issue AN apology to the workers and the Muslims were given a raise???? Employees who failed to report to work will just get a letter in their file and not FIRED??? Allegations of physical abuse to be further investigated??? I don't blame the other employees for staging a walkout of their own.

Counterprotesters raised objections Wednesday to a pay raise they say the Somalians were given and were bragging about Tuesday and Wednesday.

But "everybody is losing money" when the plant isn't operating, said Swift Human Resources spokeswoman Mary Chmelka. She exited on the plant's north side, stood on the metal staircase and addressed a crowd of about 400 fabrication and trim line workers an hour after they walked off their lines. "Go back to work … get a representative of your culture to come to a meeting at 2 p.m. (Thursday)," she said as the crowd booed. About a half hour later, Plant Manager Dennis Sydow, Operations Manager Mike Helzer and a plant owner from corporate headquarters in Greeley, Colo., stepped out to address the crowd. More booing was heard and no workers made an effort to return to the line.

Reports were that more protesting was occurring inside on the kill and slaughter lines, but calls to the corporate office were not returned.

The counterprotesters finally broke up and marched from the Swift parking lot to Grand Island City Hall at about 6 p.m. The Muslim protesters had also staged a demonstration at Grand Island City Hall both Monday and Tuesday.

-snip-

Swift supervisors were to apologize to Muslim workers who were accused of taking too long on those breaks, which some had used for prayer, Hoppes said. An accounting of the break time taken was conducted and Hoppes said the company and union found no violations. Hoppes said Muslim workers who did not show up for work, walked out of work, or did not notify supervisors of not coming to work will have a disciplinary letter placed in their personnel file. "They will not be fired, but if it happens again they could be terminated," Hoppes said Wednesday.

The disciplinary letter was viewed by those protesting Wednesday as too light of a punishment.

Hoppes said the union is continuing to investigate allegations that some praying workers were kicked by a supervisor and that a male supervisor followed a female worker into a bathroom as she attempted to pray. He said witnesses to those events have not surfaced and Swift is denying either incident happened.

Ramirez said Wednesday that the Somalians come late, leave early and take frequent breaks and "drop all the time" in prayer right in front of people, so people are literally tripping over their bodies. "They don't do the work and we have to work double," she said. "It's not fair."

Hoppes had heard the rumors of a counterprotest early Wednesday, but hoped it wouldn't happen. "I don't think there will be any problems, but there's always some people who aren't completely satisfied … and there may be a glitch or two," Hoppes said. "Really, the only change is the supper break going from 8 p.m. to 7:45 p.m." B shift workers said the plant has been hampered by the protests this week. Normally, about 400 head of cattle are processed every hour, but that was down to about 220 to 260 an hour this week.

"Everyone has rights. Be equal. Be fair," a protester sign stated in the Swift parking lot Wednesday night.

"We all have religion," Ramirez said.

Yes, but it's not the SPECIAL one...ISLAM.

Another Muslim Meatpacker walk out.

The God is Great sign says Allah Akbar on the back, what do you want to bet?

This time at the JBS Swift plant in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Unfortunately, it appears that JBS Swift is folding faster than a cheap lawn chair.

"An issue has arisen at our Grand Island facility regarding the sunset prayer during Ramadan and the timing for our second-shift lunch break," JBS spokeswoman Tamara Smid said. Smid said the company is seeking assistance on how to address the issue.

"Area religious leaders have been notified that restrictions regarding these breaks prevent us from precisely accommodating requests for an evening prayer break," she said. "It is our understanding that these leaders will notify employees."

"At this time, we have taken no disciplinary action and no employees have been terminated," Smid said of the Grand Island plant.

I swear the complaints must have been scripted by CAIR because they sound mighty similar to the ones alleged in Greeley. Here, one worker claimed to have been kicked by a supervisor while praying. Another claimed that a supervisor followed her into the ladies room because she went in their to pray and was taking too long. No word yet, on the breast fondling. They usually reserve making those kind of charges at places like al Jazeera and al Bawaba. The better to inflame the Muslim street.

What a racket they've got going here.

Members of the B shift (3 to 11:30 p.m.) and some members of the morning A shift walked off the job after being denied time to pray during what they said is the holiest of times for them -- Ramadan.

A group of protesting women said they were kicked by a supervisor when they attempted to pray at work. Asha Abdi said she knelt to pray when the supervisor said, "You can't pray here," kicked her feet and told her to go home.

Another woman, Hawo Mohammed, said she told her production supervisor she needed to go to the bathroom. She attempted to pray quickly in the bathroom until the male supervisor followed her in and told her she was taking too long.

Special accommodations have been made previously - but it's never enough for the Muslim. Never.

Last spring about 125 Somali workers resigned from the Grand Island Swift plant, but about 70 returned to work after Swift and the workers' union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 22, worked on the issue. The plant said then it couldn't accommodate prayer time, but did move many Somalis to earlier shifts that better fit their prayer schedule.

They wear outfits like this to preserve their modesty and think no one is looking at them?
They're kidding, right?

The Media campaign is in full swing. From the AP:

After he left the production line and began praying, Mohamed said, supervisors took his prayer mat, pulled him up by his collar and sent him crying to a lead supervisor, who fired him. "I told him, 'Look, I know I am in America and I know in America there is a freedom of religion for everybody to practice their religion. . . . And as long as you fulfill that — as long as you let me pray — I will always work for you,'" Mohamed, 28, said last week through an interpreter. "And he said, 'No, that's not acceptable — your prayers are not acceptable here. You're here to work, not pray.'"

Through an interpreter no less. No doubt an interpreter facilitated by CAIR, or Mohammed Rage, the leader of the Omaha Somali-American Community Organization. They can't speak English but they know their rights.

Didn't I tell you they were just a bunch of thugs? Gleaned from the comments section:

tmc- Well, I can tell you nobody kicked anyone! Plus I know that at least 1 Muslim told their own people they were going to work because they had bills to pay and their tires were flattened.

Tracy Overstreet - I'm the reporter for The Independent who wrote yesterday's story and the update with comments from Swift today. TMC, it sounds like you have some first-hand knowledge of what's occurring inside the plant. I'd like to know more about that. Please call me at 381-5420. I'd like to know more and corporate is saying very little.

Read all about the Muslim machinations at the Greeley plant here.

JBS Swift caves into Muslim pressure.

I knew this was coming but I didn't think it would be this SWIFT.

Union: Muslim Workers Reach Deal for Prayer Break

Nebraska: Earlier this week 300 Muslim JBS Swift & Co. workers, most of Somali background, walked off the job in protest of the prayer dispute. No one was fired after the protest.

Dan Hoppes, president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said management at the plant has agreed to temporarily change the timing of the second-shift lunch break to accommodate workers wanting time to pray during the Muslim observance of Ramadan.

Workers previously took the 30-minute break in shifts. The change will force the entire line to break at once. The arrangement will be in effect the next nine working days, which will cover the remainder of Ramadan, Hoppes said.

A phone message left with company officials was not immediately returned Wednesday.

The plant employs about 2,500 people, not including management, Hoppes said. He estimates about 500 of the plant's workforce is Muslim.

More than 100 workers at a Greeley, Colorado, Swift plant were fired last week because the company said they walked away from work before their shifts ended. The workers blamed the company's refusal to allow their breaks to coincide with sunset so they could pray.

JBS Swift: Muslim pig in a poke watch.

Second day of protests at Nebraska plant.

Protests continue for a second day in Grand Island where Muslim works at JBS Swift say the company is denying them time to pray during the Muslim observance of Ramadan. Around 500 marched from Swift to Grand Island City Hall Monday.

Tuesday, the numbers dropped to around 30 protesters.

6 more fired at Greeley plant, join others in filing for unemployment and meeting with DOJ. Head Muslim troublemaker gets new job.

Isse said virtually all of the terminated workers filed for unemployment benefits on Monday and Tuesday, working through union representatives in Greeley. He said the workers also are filing for hardship benefits through the union.

Six more Muslim workers were fired at the Greeley plant Monday for taking breaks to pray around sunset, Isse said.

Some of the fired Muslim workers in Greeley met with a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice, and most have remained in Greeley, Isse said.

"I'm not going nowhere. I like Greeley," Isse said, noting that he had an interview this week at the Weld County Courthouse to work as a translator.

Colorado: Dozens of Muslims sent packing at meat plant

5:42 pm Update: Fired Muslim workers plan low-profile day...

in recognition of the victims of the 9-11 massacre seven years ago, according to one of the workers’ leaders.

Kaise Egal, who hasn’t worked at Swift but is a leader of the local Muslim workers, said the fired workers were staying low-key “in respect to the 9-11 victims.”

“We told the people to be low-profile and not to demonstrate,” Egal said in a phone interview. “That’s why we didn’t do the walk (on Monday) from the (downtown Greeley) park to the Swift facility.”

7:00 AM: Fired for violation of union contract.

A week-long dispute between JBS Swift & Co. and hundreds of Muslim workers seeking Ramadan prayer accommodations flared into firings of about 100 workers Wednesday afternoon.

Some said they will take legal action against the company, and a spokesman for United Food Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents production workers at Swift, said the union will file a grievance for any worker who wants his or her job back.

-snip-

One laid-off worker, Graen Isse, one of the Muslim leaders, said he counted 130 terminated workers.

As soon as they got their papers they were told to leave the plant. All of the laid-off workers refused to sign the sheet. The first 30 sheets had a union representative write "refused to sign" on the employee signature line, but the rest of the termination sheets' signature lines were left blank.

About 15 Greeley police officers arrived at the plant, responding to a 3:56 p.m. call from a Swift security guard who said things were "getting out of control" inside the plant, said Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner, who also went to the plant.

Police said one minor assault was reported and they were investigating to determine who was involved. Garner said a plant official said one worker was apparently disorderly and escorted from the scene. Police didn't find any disturbances, however, and remained on scene as the Muslim workers, mostly Somalis who have been hired at Swift in the past year, filed out and onto a grassy area outside the employee parking lot. They talked in groups for about an hour, then dispersed.

Of course, the Union is grousing that 'workers didn't get ample notice'. Perhaps the discharged employees should have thought about giving 'ample notice' to their employer when they walked off the job and disrupted the whole production line.

Related posts can be found here.

JBS Swift and Muslim prayer: The Tanc speaks

Tom Tancredo tells it like it is.

Pray on your own time.

Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) regarding Muslim prayer-time accommodation at the JBS Swift plant in Greeley, Colorado.

"The fact is that, if you take a job that requires your attendance on an assembly line from a point certain to a point certain, and if your religious views do not allow you to do that, then don't take the job," Tancredo suggests. "There is nothing forcing anybody to take the job. No one has put a gun to their head[s] and said, 'You must be on this line.'"

JBS Swift: Muslim pig in a poke watch

Wah! Somalis blame Hispanics and say they were harassed.

Wah! Wah! CAIR officials flown into Colorado from Chicago say Swift bosses are "uncooperative"

Wah! Wah! Wah! Somalis play the press like a fiddle by throwing down the "hardship" card.

Here's the way it always goes down:

Meatpackers recruit refugees. Due to the tight labor market, Muslim refugees get hired, and proceed to make demands for special religious accommodations. Management works with them for two years (in the case of the Swift Greeley plant) trying to accommodate them and yet keep the production lines going. The demands continue and become increasingly radical. The Muslims show their gratitude by walking off the line and bringing production to a halt. Act 2: Anonymous fliers threatening non-Muslims are left in the cafeteria. Accusations of Racism and breast fondling are made. CAIR flies in it's professional grievance mongers and with EEOC backing, the lawyers arrive stage left and then the Agony Aunts in the lefty media chorus chime in and it's showtime, folks!

I almost don't know what to say about this Muslim grievance theatre of the absurd anymore. It's so predictable. And sooooo depressing.

It's depressing because the Muslims will press this case forward through our legal system under "religious accommodation" and no doubt win.

Update 11:58 - And now we have this unreported item in a post from Jihad Watch:

There's much more to the story than what the Tribune printed. It was not all peaceful, as the Tribune has led us to believe. My neighbor, directly across the street from my home, is a Registered Nurse. She is currently employed at the Swift Meat Packing plant at Greeley in the medical department. She was an eyewitness to the building conflict and post-riot damage within the plant that happened at about 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening, 9-5-08.

The Greeley P.D. SWAT Team and many police officers had to come into the plant to stop the destruction by approximately 200 angry Muslims of tables, equipment, and helmets inside the cafeteria at about 7:30 pm last night. My neighbor said that the medical department rendered treatment to one non-Muslim female worker who was assaulted during the melee.

The first Muslim demands came as Ramadan began on September 1. The plant employs about 2,000 workers. The majority of workers in the plant are of Latino descent. The Somali Muslims, my neighbor tells me, constitute a majority of the remaining minority number. They demanded that the union-contract mandated lunch break be moved from 9:00 pm to 7:30 pm.

When management moved the lunch break to 7:30 pm for two days, to accommodate the Ramadan Sharia demands, the majority of workers objected. This is covered pretty much within a racial framework in the Tribune story.

According to my neighbor, there was growing tension within the plant during the swing shift on Friday, 9-5-08. During the afternoon she walked through the plant at the request of management to help identify any Muslims who might be in distress from not eating anything during the day. She told me that there were Muslim men congregated in groups, that she was then asked to attend an urgent management meeting, wherein a decision was made to change the Friday lunch break to 8:00 pm, in an attempt to keep everyone happy.

The announcement was made about the new schedule for the 8:00 pm lunch break. At 7:30 pm the Muslims, about 200 in number, walked off the job, went to the employee cafeteria and began to break tables and equipment. At that time my neighbor was walking back into her medical department. She heard the sounds of the violence and later saw the aftermath of the damage....

Okay, this one got my attention

Send them packing.

From Greeley, Colorado.

Muslims refuse to work after squabble about Ramadan fasts.

More than 150 Muslim workers didn't report to their meatpacking plant jobs Monday in the wake of what they called JBS Swift & Co.'s sudden reversal of religious accommodations for Ramadan.

The workers said they were told by Swift management on Friday to not report to work Monday until the matter of changing break times to accommodate their Ramadan fasts was settled.

The workers, mostly Somalis but many also from several other East African nations, initially planned a two-mile march from downtown Greeley's Lincoln Park to the plant, but a gathering that formed mid-morning never left the park. Throughout the day, several Greeley police officers watched from the park's edge.

Company officials met with several workers Monday afternoon at the plant, and Somali representatives later spoke with workers in downtown Greeley.

Abdullahi Abdirahman - The man that seems to be behind it all.
Why do they look like just a bunch of thugs in this picture????

Lucky for you...

My navel isn't that interesting. That, and there comes a point when I just have to laugh at myself and how silly I can get. Then I smack myself upside the head and say, 'Snap out of it! It's a fricking blog for crying out loud. It isn't dying of cancer or being blown up by an Islamofascist. Get real, girl.'

I am happy to announce I am over myself now.

Here are a few things I found interesting this evening, I hope you will, too.

My reaction to the news that the Bali Bombers had faced their firing squad? "Sweet". Visit El Marco (h/t LGF) and check out his moving photo essay and tribute to the victims. Take a look at the long list of names and countries engraved on the memorial and ask yourself why all of these countries aren't doing everything in their power to stop these Islamoterrorists.

Keeping it all in the family. Obama asks ma-in-law to move into the White House with them. First Granny they're calling her. Meanwhile, Auntie Z's lawyer says Obama's Aunt can't walk - Dinah says maybe so, but she sure was able to run from her deportation order! Margaret Wong, the lawyer handling her case, said Ms Onyango could be barred from reentering for three to ten years if she left the US now. She needed to stay for medical care because she could not walk. “She has to go in a wheelchair but because of her pride she tries to give the impression that she can walk,” she said. No doubt medical care that will be paid for by you and me... Auntie Z has fled to Cleveland to stay with ANOTHER Obama relative, a preacher. Is the next thing going to be Auntie Z seeking sanctuary in the sanctuary of his church ala Elvira Arellano?

Speaking of low-down, lazy freeloaders and the countries that enable them with their lax immigration policies...Remember the Somali Muslims fired for praying on the job at the JBS Swift plant in Greeley, CO? Well, you had to see this one coming. Now, they're the first ones standing in line for with their hands out for "heating assistance". Figures.

Barack the hot new name for Future Freeloaders of America... Decontee Williams was so excited by Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday night that she started jumping up and down — and went into labor. Twelve hours later, Barack Jeilah was born at Phoenix Baptist Hospital to Ms. Williams and Prince Jeilah. The baby was 8 pounds 9 ounces and had a full head of hair. “I love Barack Obama, and I love the name,” said Ms. Williams, 31, who came to the United States as a refugee from Liberia in 2003. “In Africa, we call it a blessing. That is a good name.”... Nuff said.

File this under Modern Moonbattery: Rothko art hung wrong way around in exhibition. (And there are no plans to change it.)

Now, to clear that nasty taste of moonbat from your mouth. Read about Sgt. Tyson Two Two: Tribe honors returning Marine.


"Sgt. Tyson Two Two stood on a war blanket provided by his family, a traditional Northern Cheyenne Tribe war bonnet perfectly complementing his dress blues, as drummers and singers welcomed him home. Saturday afternoon in the baggage claim lobby of Billings Logan International Airport, Two Two, 24, a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, was welcomed home from a seven-month tour in Iraq by about 50 family members and friends from the Northern Cheyenne reservation. "

"Two Two's father, Vince Two Two Sr., said the war blankets are handed down in families and given to returning warriors to help ward off bad dreams from war demons and comfort them while they sleep. The war bonnet, he said, helps usher in change. "We know them as soldiers when they go in (to war)," Vince Two Two explained. "When they come back, they are warrior-soldiers."

God bless the United States and our brave warrior-soldiers. Read the full article here and watch the slide show here. Bring a hanky.