In
some ways, I admire devout Muslims for praying five times a day.
I
mean… Five times a day. That’s commitment! As a Christian, I sometimes have to
force myself to pray just once a day, especially when that day is a weekend.
Admirable
or not, however, the rigidity of when those Middle Eastern prayers have to be
made isn’t necessarily compatible with American business. That’s what Ariens, a
Wisconsin lawn mower and snow blower maker (that’s rather unfortunately named,
given the circumstances), found out the hard way.
With
some 53 staunchly Muslim Somalian refugees working at its plant, it initially
allowed two additional five-minute breaks per shift for those employees. As of January
25, however, it’s
changing its policy since the “manufacturing environment does not allow for
unscheduled breaks in production.”
That
was Ariens’ official statement on the subject, with CEO Dan Ariens adding, “If
I’m on a team of assemblers of ten and two out, all ten of them have to stop,
not just the two.” Moreover, “When the team sees that some are getting unscheduled
breaks, paid or unpaid, it just doesn’t seem fair to the rest.”
Many
of the Muslim workers, naturally, aren’t thrilled with that decision. Which I
get. Really. The new policy makes it easier for Ariens at their expense.
However,
Ariens is the one in charge. It’s the one with a bottom line to worry about,
customers to satisfy and a larger workforce to take into account. So it’s well
within its rights here, both from a legal and ethical standpoint.
Likewise,
I’m not trying to be a jerk when I say these Muslim workers are now in the
Christian-based America, not their native Somalia. If they want to stay here,
they need to figure out how to do things the American way.
No comments:
Post a Comment