A couple of weeks ago more than 200 Muslim workers walked off their jobs at a Cargill meat plant in eastern Colorado. Now the vast majority of those workers have been fired, reports The Denver Post.
The walkout came in response to a changed policy at the plant regarding religious prayer. The plant had previously provided a prayer schedule for Muslim workers. But last month Cargill decided to stop allowing time for prayer. The workers were told: “If you want to pray, go home.”
The workers walked off the job in an attempt to sway plant managers to reinstate the prayer schedule. They felt missing prayer was worse than losing their job, said one worker advocate.
Now that they’ve been fired, the workers will not be allowed to re-apply for six months. Some of the fired employees had been working at the plant for up to 10 years. Most of the fired workers were immigrants from Somalia.