http://twitter.com/muslimslaughter Muslim workers in two meat packing plants had more than offensive terms hurtled at them. Supervisors and coworkers allegedly threw blood and bones at them – as well as denying them time to pray and observe their holy month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged this week.
When the immigrant workers from Somalia complained, many were fired in retaliation, according to EEOC lawsuits. Their employer, JBS Swift & Co.,, the one of the nation’s largest meat processing companies, engaged in a pattern of religious discrimination at two plants and violated hundreds of workers’ civil rights since at least December 2007, the EEOC alleged. Swift now faces two EEOC lawsuits charging religious and national origin discrimination and creating a hostile work environment at plants in Greeley, Colo., and Grand Island, Neb.
“It’s fairly egregious when you have your coworkers throwing bloody animal parts at you. It is not something we see every day,” said Justine Lisser, the EEOC’s acting communications director in Washington. Supervisors and managers regularly threw blood, meat and bones at Somali and Muslim staff, according to the Colorado lawsuit.
They also were called vile names including “b- – - – ” and “f- – - – - ” and “bimbo” and subjected to offensive anti-Musim and anti-black grafitti in the bathrooms, according to the suit. The harassment was “sufficiently severe or pervasive as to alter the terms and conditions of employment,” the EEOC charged, noting that managers both participated in and failed to step in to end such illegal behaviors.
“This is a case that even after 31 years of practicing law, gives me the goosebumps and that chilling feeling. We need to take it to vindicate worker civil rights,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, a veteran EEOC regional attorney in Phoenix who is representing the Colorado workers. Some workers were denied bathroom breaks. And many more Muslim workers were denied accommodation of their religious observance of Ramadan in 2008, the EEOC suit charged.
During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to fast all day until sunset and then break their food and water fast. They also need to pray as the sun sets. Close to 100 Muslim employees in Colorado went to the superintendents office on Sept. 2, 2008, to ask that their dinner break be moved from 9:15 to 7:30 p.m. for their religious observances.
After two days of cooperation with the Ramadan dinner break, Swift management changed their break back to 8:30 p.m. and also either shut off the water fountains or marked them with red tags used within the plant to signify rotten meat, according to the lawsuit. This prevented Muslim employees from getting a drink of water after a 12 hour fast and also from washing their hands before prayers.
When some workers left the plant for their break one night, they were told they could not return to work. Because of what the company termed an “unauthorized work stoppage” workers were suspended or fired, the suit alleges.
The actions were done with malice or “reckless indifference” to federal laws that protect worker rights. O’Neill noted that the discriminatory and illegal actions are continuing.
But JBS spokesman Chandler Keys told me the company collaborated with Muslim and non-Muslim employees and community groups to improve things and had had no incidents or problems during Ramadan 2009 or this year’s holy month, which continues through Sept. 10.
JBS Swift is a “legitimate company” and “we defend ourselves vigorously.”Rich Vesta, president of JBS Beef North America, added: “We’ve made accommodations for their prayers within the limits of our production scenario. We certainly honor and respect their religion.”
The Greeley, Colo.,-based company markets its meat under such brands as Swift 1855 Brand, Swift Premium Black Angus and Swift Premium ribs and pork. With revenues of about $8 billion, it operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil and Italy and sells beef in Asia and South American. In 2009, it recalled 400,000 pounds of beef suspected of E. coli contamination.
The EEOC filed another suit against Swift based on complaints from workers at its Grand Island, Neb., meat plant alleging workers there had not been given time to pray or eat at sunset during Ramadan 2008. Muslim employees from Somalia also were subjected to a hostile work environment with comments like “lazy Somali” and “go back to your country,” according to the suit.
Some of the Somali Muslim workers were hired after six Swift plants were raided by immigration authorities in December 2006, when federal officials removed and detained about 1,300 employees. By May 2007, Swift said its plants were back to normal staffing levels, but estimated the raids cost the company $50 million in lost earnings and increased recruiting and training costs.
Muslim workers now represent one-fourth of all religious discrimination complaints filed with the EEOC, more than by any other religious group, though Muslims account for an estimated 0.5 percent of the U.S. population. Partly as a result of their charges, religious discrimination charges are up 75 percent this decade to 3,386 last fiscal year, the EEOC reported.
Merrill Lynch, Alamo Car Rental, Electrolux and The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan are among the employers that have settled EEOC suits involving Muslim worker complaints since the 2001 terrorist attacks; several involved Somalian Muslims including one which requires a Minnesota chicken processing company to provide a second break for prayer each shift.
Some 11,130 workers filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging they faced national origin discrimination at work in fiscal 2009, a 42 percent increase since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, unleashed a backlash against Arab-Americans and others. National origin discrimination complaints now represent more than one in nine ((11.9 percent)) of all EEOC charges.
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