Muslim Prayer Dispute At A Packinghouse

A long-simmering dispute at a Cargill beef plant in Colorado has led to the firing of about 180 Muslim employees. That action followed a walk-out by about 200 workers who were protesting what they claim was a failure to accommodate their need for break time in order to pray. The company does provide prayer space and has allowed prayer breaks since 2009, according to a Minneapolis Star Tribune article. But a dispute about timing and whether all who were involved needed to be released at the same time has now put the company at loggerheads with the Muslim employees and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has taken on the issue for the Colorado workers.