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Tyson (TSN) employees' Muslim holiday furor much ado about nothing

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The internet was buzzing last week after an article in the Shelbyville (that's right, I said Shelbyville), Tenn. Times-Gazette reported that Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE:TSN) employees at the local poultry plant could take off the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, instead of Labor Day. As you might expect in year seven of our 'war' on terrorism, some readers went apoplectic at the thought of an American corporation granting a non-Christian holiday.

Now Tyson is in a full-court press to respond to the story, and I think the company deserves consideration. Its press release explains that the exchange affects only this plant, and was granted in response to a request from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union. Around 250 of its members are Somali immigrants, legally in the U.S. as political refugees, who work at the plant.

Perhaps the company would have been wiser to choose another day to swap for Eid Al-Fitr, but which? I suspect much the same (or greater) furor would have resulted if the 4th of July or Christmas or Memorial Day had been chosen instead. Labor Day honors American laborers, which include these immigrants. If they choose to work on the day set aside to honor them, too, what's the loss to us?

I think that too many people in our country are ready to condemn all Muslims; this makes as much sense as condemning all Christians for the actions of Jim Jones. Certainly, Tyson did nothing wrong by recognizing its employees' constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Me, I'm going to eat more chicken. Tyson chicken. And maybe some goat.

Thanks to Snopes.com.

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Last updated: July 06, 2009: 06:46 AM

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