A Tyson foods plant in Tennessee has agreed to swap out one of the eight paid holidays its employees receive per calendar year. As a result of a union request, the employees of the Shelbyville plant will receive Eid ul-Fitr as a paid holiday in exchange for working on Labor Day. See the full story as originally reported in Shelbyville.
Some people are really upset. Some people wonder why other people are so upset. Some people don't want to be upset, because after all, the US is a democracy and the plant voted in this holiday swap; and yet this just rubs them the wrong way for some reason. (Can you tell which I fall into?)
Maybe my discomfort with this situation lies in that they (the union, the workers, whomever) chose a federal holiday for the swap, instead of an even religious-holiday trade. Because maybe you're not Christian, and you don't celebrate Easter (for example). But aren't you still American, and shouldn't that include celebrating federal holidays? I'm just saying...
What do you think?
