Sep 12, 2008 1:08 pm US/Mountain
Swift Workers Sue Over Alleged Unpaid Time
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Employees of JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking in Greeley are suing the company in federal court, alleging they were not being paid for all their work. The lawsuit was filed before more than 100 Muslim workers were fired over break times and prayers.
The lawsuit alleges the workers weren't being paid for the time they put on and took off protective gear and cleaned it. They also claim they weren't paid for time they walk "a long distance" from the dressing area to the production area. There are also allegations of not being paid for time spent waiting in line waiting to return tools.
A Muslim advocacy group is trying to mediate a solution to a weeklong confrontation between Somali workers and a meatpacking plant over when they can break for prayer, a spokesman for the group said Thursday.
Religious tension between U.S. factories and Muslim workers is nothing new, but a spokesman for the D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said he's never seen a conflict escalate to the point it has at the JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley, where several dozen workers were fired Wednesday.
Swift announced the terminations in an e-mail Wednesday. Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid said 101 workers were fired, but United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 spokesman Manny Gonzales said the number was as high as 150, based on what workers told union officials.
Gonzales said the union plans to file grievances against the company on behalf of those workers. But some of the workers have already begun looking for jobs at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Fort Morgan, about 55 miles east of Greeley, according to the Colorado State Refugee Services Program.
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