Only 10 of 53 Muslim workers at Ariens favor new religious accommodation policies.
Brillion, Wisconsin-based power equipment manufacturer Ariens is in the news this week, but not for reasons the company would want.
According to the Christian Science Monitor (CSM), a new policy at Areins Manufacturing prohibits Muslim employees from leaving the production line to pray outside scheduled break times.
Previously, Muslim employees left the line to pray twice during their shifts. The policy change is expected to affect 53 workers, only 10 of whom express a willingness to work under the new policy. The plant manufactures lawnmowers and snow blowers.
US federal law requires employers to offer “reasonable religious accommodation” to their employees. However, the CSM story states that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allows employers to opt out of the reasonable religious accommodation provision if the religious practice in question will cause “undue hardship” to the firm by decreasing workplace efficiency.
Areins will attempt to place workers in shifts that do not coincide with their prayer time.
So, is this a case of religious discrimination?
In my opinion, had the workers been Christian or Jewish, this would be a non-story. But the unique requirement of Muslims to pray five times a day is an inevitable source of conflict with assembly line mass production schedules.
Most people have seen automotive assembly lines in movies or videos, but few have a true understanding of the processes for mass production of consumer goods.
Since the turn of the last century, production efficiency means processes that are serial, not parallel. Each task is performed by a worker and/or a machine and the semi-finished part or product is passed along to the next station.
Obviously, workers absent from the line even for a moment cause a disruption. In smaller operations, product may back up at the absent worker’s station and he or she would be expected to clear the backlog as soon as possible.
In most cases however, workers are expected to take care of their personal needs – whether it be prayer, a cigarette or a phone call – during their scheduled break times. The timing of the traditional workplace coffee breaks and mid-shift mealtime break are designed to accommodate this, with rarely more than two hours between breaks.
While it’s true that critical lines may have backup operators to fill in the gaps, in my opinion there’s actually nothing unusual in requiring that personal matters be handled during break times. It’s just the nature of mass production.
Massively parallel operations are different. If workers have individual workstations and are expected to build production units individually, there is no reason to deny a Muslim line worker a prayer break, as long as they’re as productive as any other worker.
Is the Areins Manufacturing policy an attempt to squeeze out Muslim line workers?
I doubt it.
Every manufacturing professional I’ve ever known is concerned about getting product out the door on time, at cost and with zero defects. They would hire Bozo the Clown if he could hit his quota with minimal absenteeism and no grievances.
And while I’m on the topic, with the NFL playoffs winding down, I just want to say one thing: the New England Patriots deserve none of the success that they’ve enjoyed this year. Brady, you know what you did! You need throw a Hail Mary or about 50 of them, to God on your knees after confession.
Think football hell is hot? It’s actually Green Bay in December and every play is third and long and Hillary Clinton is your left tackle… Think about it!
