The New York Times yesterday reported:

The union that represents workers at a Tyson Foods poultry plant in Tennessee has negotiated a contract that substitutes a Muslim holiday for Labor Day as one of the eight paid holidays at the plant.

The provision, which was proposed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, has delighted the plant’s Somali workers, who account for hundreds of its 1,200 employees. But it has infuriated many outsiders, leading some to denounce Tyson and the union alike.

The many outsiders include right-wing pundits and bloggers who view the change through the lens of a cultural battle they observe afoot.  And to be fair, a number of “insiders” seem none too happy about the agreement either, as reported by local news outlets:

"It shouldn't happen. I mean, I think, we're in America, you're in America, I think that they should go with our holidays," [19-year veteran employee William] Pentecost said.

 *  *  *

Former employee and Shelbyville resident Anthony Proctor said he thinks what's happening is wrong.

He said he helped build a special Muslim prayer room that's located inside the plant and that no other Tyson facility has been that accommodating for any other religion.

"If we want to go pray, we don’t have one for Christians," he said.

Mr. Proctor refers to the additional contract provision which gives Muslim workers a prayer room on site.  The fact is these changes in policy were bargained-for by the employees’ recognized bargaining agent and agreed to by management in the course of comprehensive contract negotiations.  Presumably, this was a benefit that a majority of the covered employees wanted, and their union representative traded off some existing benefit to obtain it for them.  Such is the collective-bargaining process.

The agreement does not affect the company's hundred plants elsewhere, or even non-unit employees in Shelbyville.  According to Fox News:

The seven additional paid holidays are the employee's birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas....

-  "The True Colors of English First" at Language Log 

-  "Tyson Plant Drops Labor Day for Muslim Holiday" at Volokh Conspiracy

-  "Dropping Labor Day for Muslim Holiday? The Case for Floating Holidays...." by the HR Capitalist