“You Shouldn’t be Asked to Choose…”
January 16th, 2007 | Posted in » In the News...
Check out this story, detailing a protest at Smithfield Foods in North Carolina over the company’s decision not to give workers the Martin Luther King holiday off.
The most interesting quote from the article?
“You shouldn’t be asked to choose between Jesus and Dr. King, a man who stood for our fight for humane working conditions,” Keith Ludlum, a Smithfield worker, said in a statement released by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
HUH?
By Bob Cleveland on Jan 16, 2007
I’m guessing they have to work Sundays, as that’s USUALLY when Easter Sunday falls.
The really interesting statement is that the workers could have taken a personal day on Monday if they wanted. The issue is apparently wanting to not work a particular day and wanting to be paid anyway.
Some things just defy logic. Or explanation.
By Bryan Riley on Jan 17, 2007
I’ve lived these sorts of things in my former job, and this really is about a company not being savvy about public relations, a union wanting to make a company look bad for business reasons (not out of the goodness of their hearts), and a few angry people who like feeling powerful. Don’t fault the workers, at least not the majority/average of them; they are pawns in someone else’s hands and the company really needs to do a better job of human resource relations.