Somali workers want Ramadan prayers
Published: Sept. 9, 2008 at 3:29 PM

GREELEY, Colo., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Muslim workers at a Colorado meat-packing plant say that JBS Swift & Co. has reneged on a plan to make accommodations for Ramadan.

About 150 people protested Monday in a park 2 miles from the plant, the Greeley Tribune reported Tuesday. They had planned to march to the plant but remained in the park.

The workers, most of them from Somalia, said that supervisors told them not to come to work on Monday. They said that the company said it was trying to change break times to give them the opportunity for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Swift plant was the target of an immigration raid in December 2006, where 260 alleged undocumented workers were arrested. Employees from Somalia and elsewhere in East Africa working on temporary visas were brought in as replacements.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/09/ ... 220988546/