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190 Striking Muslims Fired After A Ban On Prayers At Work

A Colorado meat packing plant in Fort Morgan has fired 190 Muslim workers, most of them from Somalia, who were protesting their rights to pray during the day. The Independent reports: Staff at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colorado, were fired 10 days after the mass walk-out, according to the Denver Post. More than 200 workers, who are mainly Muslims from Somalia, took part in the protest along with the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who negotiated with the company on their behalf. Some workers returned to work, but the majority were sacked, said Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman and executive director of CAIR. Workers say Cargill changed its rules on allowing its staff to pray during shifts. Previously, a few workers had been able to pray at different times of the day in the dedicated prayer room, in order to not slow down the process of the production line. The five to 10 minutes allocated prayer time had been taken from workers’ unpaid 30 minute lunch break, according to the Denver Post. But according to Mr Hussein, workers had recently been told: “If you want to pray, go home.” Mr Hussein said the workers feel “missing their prayer is worse than losing [...]