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Swift plant refuses to give in to Muslim employee demands for prayer breaks

The founder of a pro-Israel ministry is praising a meat packing plant for refusing to cave into the demands of Muslim workers who wanted to take extra breaks in order to perform Islamic rituals. Dozens of Muslim workers walked off the job at a Swift and Company meat packing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, because their prayer times were not accommodated.



A company spokesman says breaks are governed by a labor contract and all employees are told about them during orientation for new employees. The head of the union local also said the contract makes no provisions for prayer.

Jan Markell is founder of Olive Tree Ministries. "Since when did a population in America of one to two percent start changing the way 98 percent of the rest of Americans have to live?" she asks.

"We don't see the Swedish immigrants doing this. We don't see even Jewish cultural things being thrown in the face of the rest of America's non-Jewish population or -- you name it -- the Irish. When they come to America, they become American. They blend in, they assimilate. Not so with the Muslims."

Markell says while she praises the meat packing company for its stance, too many accommodations are being made for Muslims in her own home state. "Three cheers for [Swift and Company]," she says. "But, see, that does not happen in the late, great state of Minnesota. Where I come from, here we have about eight or ten issues where the state caves and gives in to them."

The Olive Tree Ministries spokeswoman says she is always heartened when she hears that some state or location refuses to cave. "But more and more, they are caving," she asserts.

Markell says her home state of Minnesota has gone out of its way to accommodate Muslim demands, which is why she calls it the "Islamic Republic of Minnesota."