UPDATED: Tyson Foods still plagued by 2008 union swap of Labor Day for Muslim holiday

August 30th 2011   ·   3 Comments

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Over the last week or so, there’s has been an e-mail making the this-is-appalling(!) rounds, the history of which is based on a three-year old story about the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)–a division of the UFCW–negotiating away the Labor Day holiday at a Tyson Foods plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee in exchange for the Muslim holiday, Eid ul-Fitr.

Since the story sounded familiar, it bore looking into and, sure enough, it is the same story.

While the union did negotiate a contract to replace Labor Day with the Muslim holiday, it was short-lived. More importantly, it was three years ago (2008) and  it has since been rectified.

Members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and Tyson Foods workers at the poultry processing plant in Shelbyville overwhelmingly voted to overturn a union contract provision that replaced Labor Day as a paid holiday with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, it was announced this morning.

The new agreement will increase the number of paid days off for workers in the current calendar year to include both Labor Day and the Muslim observance as paid holidays for workers in the Shelbyville plant.

The agreement amends the existing contract negotiated last year, according to a press release from the RWDSU.

Despite the fact that the story is old, its persistence at making its way through e-mail chains has even prompted Tyson Foods to post this on its website:

Outdated, misleading information about Tyson employee holidays has surfaced on the Internet. Contrary to recently circulated reports, Tyson does NOT offer its workers a paid Muslim holiday at any location.

A labor union vote briefly changed the Labor Day holiday at the company’s Shelbyville, Tennessee, poultry plant in 2008. Tyson Foods did not initiate the change and immediately negotiated with the union to reinstate Labor Day as a paid holiday, resolving the matter more than three years ago.

It is unclear whether the Shelbyville workers get paid both Labor Day and the Muslim holiday, as stated in the news account (above), or whether the Muslim holiday is unpaid (as inferred by Tyson’s statement). [See update below.]

In either case, it appears the bad publicity from the union having negotiated away Labor Day in exchange for the Muslim holiday was more costly to Tyson Foods than giving away an extra holiday (paid or unpaid) to its Shelbyville workforce.

Hopefully, for those who have received the “American company eliminates Labor Day” e-mail, this helps clarify it to some degree.

While it did happen, it occurred in 2008.

UPDATE: Please note the following (as posted in the comments below): The Shelbyville workers do not get the paid Muslim holiday (nor do any other plants). However, every Tyson employee in all plants a locations gets one day’s “floating holiday” to use as they please.

Tags:  Eid ul-Fitr, Muslim, Muslim holiday, Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, Shelbyville, TN, Tyson Foods, UFCW

By Editor