Could Eid al-Fitr Be Coming To A City Near You?

Your post was informative, but your point appears lost in your rant. To be honest, I could not care less why Labor Day was invented. Respect for workers, “weak excuse for a day off” or time to BBQ, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the “Politically Correct” assholes taking away a “National” holiday and replacing it with a Muslim holiday. When I see Muslims come out in force to condemn terror attacks and senseless murders like “Honor Killings”, then maybe I’ll start giving a shit about their freaking work environment.

Shane,  Appreciate the follow-up.  I have a bad habit of ranting sometimes myself, as you can tell from my blog.  It was an interesting chain of events and now Tyson has reinstated Labor Day and made some other changes, which sounds reasonable to me.  Looks like enough people raised the BS flag on that on Tyson listened... 

 Labor Day Reinstated as Paid Holiday at Shelbyville, TN, Plant

Springdale, Arkansas – August 8, 2008 - Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant. 

Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be responsive, Tyson asked the union to reopen the contract to address the holiday issue, and the union agreed to do so. The union membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant’s paid holidays, while keeping Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. This means that in 2008 only, Shelbyville employees will have nine paid holidays.

For the remainder of the five-year contract period, the eight paid holidays will include: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and a Personal Holiday, which could either be the employee’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr or another day requested and approved by their supervisor.

This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, Tennessee. Labor Day has always been celebrated, and continues to be, at the other 118 Tyson plants across the country.

The Shelbyville complex employs approximately 1,200 people. Approximately 1,000 workers are covered by the RWDSU union agreement at that location.