Union Votes to Replace Labor Day With Muslim Holiday at Tennessee Plant

[JWBear]

Story here

Discuss.

(I know, I know... It's Fox. But it is the only major news outlet that's running the story.)

[BDBopper]

Why can't they observe both? Then it would be a non issue.

[Alex]

Everybody involved agreed to the change by the rules agreed to ahead of time so I don't see any reason to be bothered.

I'm not big on religious holidays and ceremony being given institutional dispensation but I'm not involved. Since they include "personal birthday" as a holiday, I'd think it would be easier to just give everybody two more float holidays a year and take Christmas (the only other recognized religious holiday) off the list. Christians can take Christmas and Labor Day (or Christmas and Easter if they prefer). Muslims can take Eid and Labor Day (or some other day), Jews can take Passover and some other day. This way they don't have worry about accommodating everybody faith that comes through. When they have 18% Hindi then the Hindis can just decide which two holidays are most important to them.

So, I don't object to the holiday, just the inefficiency in which it is granted.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Alex

Everybody involved agreed to the change by the rules agreed to ahead of time so I don't see any reason to be bothered.

I'm not big on religious holidays and ceremony being given institutional dispensation but I'm not involved. Since they include "personal birthday" as a holiday, I'd think it would be easier to just give everybody two more float holidays a year and take Christmas (the only other recognized religious holiday) off the list. Christians can take Christmas and Labor Day (or Christmas and Easter if they prefer). Muslims can take Eid and Labor Day (or some other day), Jews can take Passover and some other day. This way they don't have worry about accommodating everybody faith that comes through. When they have 18% Hindi then the Hindis can just decide which two holidays are most important to them.

So, I don't object to the holiday, just the inefficiency in which it is granted.

I have no problem with it either. But, it's interesting to see the comments of the apoplectic crowd.

Apparently, the reason they didn’t give it as a floating holiday is that 700 of the plant’s 1200 employees are Muslim, and would be out. It makes economic sense to just shut down that day.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by BDBopper

Why can't they observe both? Then it would be a non issue.

Read some of the commentary on the web. Trust me... A lot of those people are complaining more about honoring a Muslim holiday than taking away Labor Day.

[BDBopper]

If I owned a business like this I would make the schedule around my own religeon's holidays but would allow those who are Muslim, Jewish, or otherwise to have their holidays off (with pay). It's only common courtesy. I wouldn't be a decent boss if I didn't do it. In addition my employees would have their Birthdays off (with pay) and my Birthday would be a day off for everyone!

[wendybeth]

I agree with Alex. My husbands company avoids these problems by doing just what he suggests, and while it's a pain for holidays like Easter, etc, it really is the fairest thing to do.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by BDBopper

If I owned a business like this I would make the schedule around my own religeon's holidays but would allow those who are Muslim, Jewish, or otherwise to have their holidays off (with pay). It's only common courtesy. I wouldn't be a decent boss if I didn't do it. In addition my employees would have their Birthdays off (with pay) and my Birthday would be a day off for everyone!

That's what floating holidays are for. 2 extra paid days off to use as you see fit. If you're Jewish take off the High Holidays. If you're Muslim take off your holidays. If you're an atheist take a day off.

Closing a business is done with a business purpose. If over half the staff would be out on this day, then it does make sense to close the office. Retail stores are open 364/365 days a year. Their services are needed. Baskin Robbins can close twice a year, at the owners discretion. The store I ran was closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas with shortened hours on Easter because it was dead. It's not a matter of being a "decent boss", it's a business reason.

Alex, are you suggesting going from 2 floating holidays to 4, or going from set company holidays to adding 2 floating holidays on top of other PTO?

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by BDBopper

If I owned a business like this I would make the schedule around my own religeon's holidays but would allow those who are Muslim, Jewish, or otherwise to have their holidays off (with pay).

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

That's what floating holidays are for. 2 extra paid days off to use as you see fit. If you're Jewish take off the High Holidays. If you're Muslim take off your holidays. If you're an atheist take a day off.

Two things:

1. As JWBear pointed out, the decision is a common sense decision, not a religious based one: since at least 58% of ALL employees would be off on that one day, it is not practical to expect the business to run efficiently on that day.
2. (And this is a completely different discussion) How does one draw the line on what is a religious holiday? That opens up a whole new argument (however, mostly rhetorical).

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Two things:

1. As JWBear pointed out, the decision is a common sense decision, not a religious based one: since at least 58% of ALL employees would be off on that one day, it is not practical to expect the business to run efficiently on that day.
2. (And this is a completely different discussion) How does one draw the line on what is a religious holiday? That opens up a whole new argument (however, mostly rhetorical).

I was pointing out to BDB why companies don't give out paid religious holidays for everyone. That's what floating holidays are for.


I wasn't disagreeing with JWBear. It makes sense to close the plant when over half the staff would have been out on that day anyways.