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HughPickens.com writes:

CNN reports that about 150 Muslims were fired from their jobs at a beef processing plant in Colorado for walking off the job to protest a workplace prayer dispute over how many Muslim workers are allowed to pray at the same time. "There are times where we have to sequence how many people are allowed to go [to pray] so that production is not slowed down," says Cargill spokesman Michael Martin adding that the company tried to work toward a solution with the workers, without success.

Ten days ago more than 200 workers walked off their jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan. Some workers later returned, but more than 100 of the Muslim employees who took part in the walkout, the majority of whom are of Somali heritage, have retained the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to represent them regarding their religious accommodation request and to work with Cargill to implement a workable policy that meets the needs of all parties. Although some circumstances surrounding the prayer dispute remain vague, Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman and executive director of the CAIR, says that a plant policy allowing short prayer breaks at various times during the day was changed, and Muslim workers were told to "go home" if they wanted to pray. "They feel missing their prayer is worse than losing their job," says Hussein. "It's like losing a blessing from God."

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