This one involves a manufacturer of door and window hardware (not meatpacking for a change). For the life of me, I don’t know why these manufacturers keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome—hire Muslims then end up in legal hot water over prayer break times.
And, if you don’t know what this is….this is creeping shariah!
Owatonna is a little town of 25,000 or so in the southeast corner of the state within easy driving distance of the two big hubs of Somali refugee resettlement—-Minneapolis and Rochester. However, Owatonna is a direct resettlement site too, see here.
I love the irony! Be sure to see Owatonna embraces its Somalis!
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune two days ago:
Nearly two dozen Muslim Somali-Americans are filing discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity against hardware maker AmesburyTruth and Doherty Staffing Solutions.
The fired workers said they were denied a place to pray at an Owatonna, Minn., manufacturing plant and lost their jobs for trying to practice their religion.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is leading the effort on behalf of 21 former workers who were terminated in May and June 2015.
[….]
Followers of Islam pray five times each day — at daybreak, midday, afternoon, sunset and at night. Before prayer, Muslims are required to wash their faces, hands and feet with clean water, which normally is performed in a restroom sink.
AmesburyTruth is headquartered in Edina and makes hardware for doors and windows, weatherstrips and extrusions. The company has about 2,000 employees at 11 locations around the country.
The Owatonna plant employs about 800 workers and specializes in making windows, hinges, locks and other hardware used in casement windows.
[….]
CAIR-MN’s civil rights director Amarita Singh underscored that Muslim employees have the constitutional right to have employers accommodate their religious practices.
[….]
Jaylani Hussein, CAIR-MN’s executive director, said more than 50 percent of the organization’s casework now comes from these types of workers’ rights cases, though many are resolved without needing to involve the courts.
Gee, I wonder why?
Nationwide, anti-Muslim sentiment has risen dramatically in the past year, sparking protests and anti-refugee legislation in Idaho, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and elsewhere, said Stephen Piggott of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit focused on civil rights.
More here at the Star Tribune.
Search Somalis Minnesota here at RRW and it will keep you busy reading posts for hours! But, don’t miss this one (10,000 Somalis to MN in ten years!).
Addendum: I’ve gotta try to remember to always add the latest Somali numbers—right now we are admitting them at the rate of 750 per month, see here.