Lawn equipment maker Ariens at odds with Muslims workers

[kscarbel2]

Associated Press / January 20, 2016

After refusing to allow its Muslim workers special prayer breaks, Wisconsin lawnmower manufacturer Ariens was forced to act in order to prevent a $1 million loss for the company each year.

Fifty three Muslim employees have walked off the job, claiming Ariens changed work practices which insulted their devout faith.

Dan Ariens, chairman and CEO of Ariens, a company which makes lawn mowers and snow blowers, says he will refuse to allow the disgruntled employees back to work unless they accept his decision to ban extra prayer breaks.

Ariens, whose family set up the business more than 80 years ago, denies he was being insensitive to their religious needs and warns they may lose their jobs if they do not accept his terms.

He says the company’s non-Muslim workers complained to him about the exceptional time given to the 53 Islamic staff to be able to meet their religious obligations during working hours.

“It just throws 800 people in disarray. Think of the unfairness. Everybody gets two ten minute breaks, but some additional 50 people are getting more breaks of maybe five or twenty minutes, ‘ said Ariens.

The banned Muslim workers now claim they were technically forced out of their jobs and insulted by the company's management.

An Imam who leads prays at his Mosque with many of the workers said Ariens, if allowed, was setting a dangerous precedent which might lead businesses around the US to review the procedure of allowing Muslims time during work to pray.

Ariens employs 2,000 people including 800 at its Brillion, Wisconsin plant. The company expects its Muslim employees to limit their prayer time to the two ten minute breaks allowed to all employees working eight hour shifts.

But the 53 Muslims, mostly from Somalia and arrived at the plant last summer, say they cannot ignore the religious requirements which specifies the times that they must turn towards Mecca and prostrate to Allah.

They have to have clean bodies and carry out the prayers at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening and each prayer lasts five minutes.

But Ariens says some prayer breaks took key workers away from production assembly lines for up to twenty minutes.

Ariens, speaking in the boardroom of the company's Wisconsin headquarters, said:

“We know those breaks aren't always (taking) five minutes for prayer because you can't physically walk to one end of the plant. It is 365,000 square feet so it may take you ten, fifteen and we know in some cases twenty minutes. If they were to stay with those five minute breaks, it would cost us about a million dollars per year. Let's say an assembly line has ten people on it, if two walk off the job, the other eight are standing there because they work in a sequence. It is impossible and it is not a free for all. We work as a team.”

He insists the resentful employees, who have walked out and have until January 25 to return to work or face losing their jobs, knew from the day they joined of the company's allotted break times.

“I am not a Muslim. I am not aware of the Muslim prayer times. I know that there is a faith. But I am not aware of the practice. But I do know that they were made aware of break times when they joined the company,” said Ariens.

Ariens, who is a Catholic, was asked why he wasn't aware that Muslims were required to pray five times a day.

He said: 'Do you know how many rosaries I do a day?'

One Muslim worker, Ibrahim Mehammed, 32, claims he and his fellow Muslims are being forced to choose between work and faith.

“They are not respecting our values and religion. The Koran says we have to pray five times a day and at what times this has to be done. These prayers are very important to us as we have to fully respect Allah and when they refuse us to pray at these times, we have no choice but to lose our jobs. Since most of us arrived in Brillion last summer, we have been treated very well and we get on with our non Muslim colleagues. They would step in for us when we went to pray and it was all OK. Nobody had any trouble at all until the company called us together last week and told us we couldn't pray anymore when we had to. It is crazy to ask us to pray out of the times that we have to. It wouldn't mean anything to us or to God. Now they have given us letters which tell us where to get help with unemployment. As far as I am concerned, I have been fired from my job over my religion,” Mehammed said.

His colleague Dhar Mahed, 37, says, “We are hard workers and we get on very well with everybody. Nobody complained to us about our prayers. People take breaks to go to the bathroom and nobody says anything about that. They can go as many times as they like. It is a shame that we are being put away from our jobs only because we are sincere and respectful Muslims and simply want to pray.”

The problem began soon after the influx of Somalian Muslims last summer who found work at Ariens through an employment fair and applied online. Until that time, there were only a handful of Muslim employees leaving the production lines to pray. But with over 50 additional Muslim workers demanding time to pray during work time, Ariens management said the situation became extremely difficult and they were not expecting new staff to make such demands.

One of the longest serving Islamic workers says some of his fellow Muslims were using the prayers as an excuse to avoid work.

Bashir Mahamed, 67, who has worked at Ariens for nearly ten years, says: 'There was no problem when there was just three or four of us.

“But when these large numbers came, I could see that the work was being affected. I know that some of the people were taking the time not to pray as they were not really practicing Muslims. But I am very happy with my job and I will carry on working there, says Mahamed.

His Imam Mohamed Abdelazim of the Appleton Mosque, however, disagrees with him and says the workers took time only to pray.

“They have to pray at the designated times. The prayers are called Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha. If a Muslim does these prayers he is rewarded by God, but if he does them at times different from the Muslim calendar, then his rewards are less and less. They have to be on time. It is not good to try and tell these Muslim brothers and sisters to pray during their lunch breaks as these prayers will not be correct and acceptable,” says the Imam.

Another Imam Hassan Abdi of the Green Bays Mosque, claims: “This company has changed its policy towards Muslims after employing them. We do not understand why.

'Most of these brothers and sisters worship at my mosque and I believe they are in this situation because their employer wants to get rid of its Muslim workers. The times to pray are in the Koran. They have to do it. If this company does this, other bosses around America could see this as an excuse to get rid of its employees. This is a dangerous situation for us in this country.”

But Ariens denies he is using the controversy over prayers as an excuse and says he is angered over claims on social media that his company's actions amounted to racism.

He says: 'They don't know us and they are baseless and wrong. They do not know us as a family business that has been here eighty years.

'We have all kind of diversity here in North East Wisconsin and we hire anybody who wants to come and work and be part of this family. We are not going to discriminate not hiring someone based on their faith. We don't do research to say that we shouldn't hire them because they are Somali or because they are Irish Catholics. That is discrimination. We are absolutely not discriminating because we are saying that we have seen they have relocated and looking for a job and we have a job open... let's see if we can put those two things together,” says Ariens.

He insists the latest batch of Muslim workers have been treated fairly and professionally.

'We put them through orientation and training. So these 53... we have invested in them and trained them. We have brought them some skills and they have become good manufacturers and we would like this not to cause them to voluntarily leave us and quit.'

He said if the 53 workers left their jobs, the replacements could be Muslims as long as they understood there were only two ten minute break times.

“I will feel bad if they leave. We are a business... we are not a non-profit business. We are as family and a team. No one is fired.”

The CEO estimates $1 million would be lost per year if the prayers were allowed to continue when the workers wanted.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that employers do not have to accommodate a religious practice if it causes 'undue hardship' to the company by decreasing 'workplace efficiency.

The dispute has to be resolved by Sunday as that is the deadline Ariens has laid down for a return to work, otherwise the 53 will be deemed to have left their jobs on their own accord.

[terry]

You suppose this is a sign of coming events?

[HeavyGunner]

Kudos for Ariens to have big enough balls to call a spade a spade. Next time I need a piece of equipment I'll definitely give them a look. Support US business, especially ones that don't cower to PC BS.

[kscarbel2]

Life in a western country, including the United States, is completely different from countries under Islamic Law (Shariah). If one chooses to [legally] immigrate to the United States, then one needs to make a conscious decision about adapting to the American way of life.

The U.S. is a global symbol of diversity; however we have norms, just as every country does.

You can’t expect to put a square peg into a round hole. Live in the countries where your beliefs fit in.

[Loadstar]

Kudos for Ariens to have big enough balls to call a spade a spade. Next time I need a piece of equipment I'll definitely give them a look. Support US business, especially ones that don't cower to PC BS.

I agree..... It's great to see a company make a stand on something not "politically correct".

[41chevy]

The local school district spent $370,000 to put prayer rooms in 4 school buildings for the Muslim Students (all 5 of them) to go pray. But disciplined 2 students for reading bibles silently in a study hall. When the parents threatened court action their punishment was dropped but school policy is that the bible can be read out of the building... Shira Law is already enforced in many places

[Dirtymilkman]

Come to Minnesota. In St Cloud, tech high school is now 1/5 Somali. Gold N Plump had a lawsuit and lost to the Muslims over the same thing. It's going to get bad here.

[kscarbel2]

The local school district spent $370,000 to put prayer rooms in 4 school buildings for the Muslim Students (all 5 of them) to go pray. But disciplined 2 students for reading bibles silently in a study hall. When the parents threatened court action their punishment was dropped but school policy is that the bible can be read out of the building... Shira Law is already enforced in many places

That is troubling. There's a time and place for everything, and school time is for learning.

Western countries are going to regret not revising their thought processes on immigration. The situation of today is FAR different from when their policies were originally formed.

[TeamsterGrrrl]

Come to Minnesota. In St Cloud, tech high school is now 1/5 Somali. Gold N Plump had a lawsuit and lost to the Muslims over the same thing. It's going to get bad here.

I'm glad those Somali kids are attending the Tech College, it means they'll have jobs and we'll have techs to fix our stuff in a few years!

[gearhead204]

I will feel very sorry for Arien's, once the divider and chief learns of this!........ I'm sure they will feel the full force of the Obummer machine

[Mcrafty1]

If I were those muslims I would just quit and go back to Somali! That's what I'd do, and I would scream from the roof tops that America is just too unfair to immigrate to...Yes sir, If I were they I'd tell all my brethren europe was the place to beeeeeee!

[41chevy]

Come to Minnesota. In St Cloud, tech high school is now 1/5 Somali. Gold N Plump had a lawsuit and lost to the Muslims over the same thing. It's going to get bad here.

So let me get this clear. The Liberals aside from the Racist flag, wave the Separation of Church and State flag (molded to their view not as written) when ever any part of Christian religion is taught (Crusades anyone?) Christian values, a simple prayer before game, or the word "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is uttered in a public school, BUT we build prayer rooms and teach Islamic history and values. What is wrong with this? Paul

[Dirtymilkman]

So let me get this clear. The Liberals aside from the Racist flag, wave the Separation of Church and State flag (molded to their view not as written) when ever any part of Christian religion is taught (Crusades anyone?) Christian values, a simple prayer before game, or the word "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is uttered in a public school, BUT we build prayer rooms and teach Islamic history and values. What is wrong with this? Paul

Exactly! All of our clinics and hospitals now have to have interpreters. Most of the Somalis are very rude. There are a few that are great people, but like everything the bad outweigh the good.

[41chevy]

Exactly! All of our clinics and hospitals now have to have interpreters. Most of the Somalis are very rude. There are a few that are great people, but like everything the bad outweigh the good.

Call a government office and try to get someone on the line without a heavy accent. Local Post Mistress speaks what sounds like Pigdin. Asked for as package being held and was told "Me lookie see"

[james j neiweem]

This is all part of a Trojan horse plan by the islamists to infiltrate the west, institute sharia law and conquer the country. Wake up liberals and progressives

[TeamsterGrrrl]

We've had somali moslems immigrating into Minnesota for a couple decades now, and all their "invasion" has accomplished is electing a school board and city council member... I think we have bigger security threats to worry about.

[Dirtymilkman]

We've had somali moslems immigrating into Minnesota for a couple decades now, and all their "invasion" has accomplished is electing a school board and city council member... I think we have bigger security threats to worry about.

Really?! What about the one's that travel back and forth from Minnesota to middle east? Most of the ones doing training and supporting terrorist organizations are in Minnesota. Look it up. Get two more on the school board or city council in St Cloud and see what happens! As for security threats.....they are our security threats. Yes a lot a friendly good people, but when something goes down do you think they'll be on your side? They are also reproducing like rabbits. If they stay pregnant they dont lose certain benefits. They're just another leech on our society.

[Dirtymilkman]

https://www.rt.com/usa/325547-minnesota-isis-somali-emir/

Read this shit Teamstergrrl

[Dirtymilkman]

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/08/21/somali-youth-minnesota

Here this is from MPR. The libs love that crap and even they are talking about it.

[41chevy]

Really?! What about the one's that travel back and forth from Minnesota to middle east? Most of the ones doing training and supporting terrorist organizations are in Minnesota. Look it up. Get two more on the school board or city council in St Cloud and see what happens! As for security threats.....they are our security threats. Yes a lot a friendly good people, but when something goes down do you think they'll be on your side? They are also reproducing like rabbits. If they stay pregnant they dont lose certain benefits. They're just another leech on our society.

Now you should give the Somali's some credit. We have their form of "warlord government" in place in Detroit, Chicago, South Central L.A. and many other cities and towns in our country.

[Bobby j]

The local school district spent $370,000 to put prayer rooms in 4 school buildings for the Muslim Students (all 5 of them) to go pray. But disciplined 2 students for reading bibles silently in a study hall. When the parents threatened court action their punishment was dropped but school policy is that the bible can be read out of the building... Shira Law is already enforced in many places

. You have got to be kidding..........tax dollars built prayer rooms for Muslims but God fearing Christians have to go outside to read the BIBLE..........BULLSHIT.....every one of the American children should get a BIBLE and go sit in those prayer rooms and read it after all American tax dollars built it........Bobby j.

[Underdog]

We've had somali moslems immigrating into Minnesota for a couple decades now, and all their "invasion" has accomplished is electing a school board and city council member... I think we have bigger security threats to worry about.

This is how it starts... With your head in the sand... Germany 1933... Oh those Nazi's seem nice, and Hitler isn't a threat.

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