Putting the Hertz on jihad at Sea-Tac

In violation of the negotiated contract between the workers and the union, 25 Somali jihadists working as drivers have been officially fired after they refused to abide by the contract by not clocking in and out for prayer time. Originally 34 had been disciplined but 9 decided to go with he agreement and they used the clock. That left 25 who decided that Allah was more important than their work, which now they see got them nothing except on the dole.

I applaud Hertz for their decision to stick to the principles and not bow to Islamic demands. The good guys won this one, but there is more agitation from Muslim in the wings, just waiting for the opportunity to push for more accommodations and greater rights than everyone else.

From The Seattle Times October 21 by Lornet Turnbull

Hertz fires 25 Muslim drivers who refuse to clock out

Hertz has sent termination letters to 25 drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after they refused to agree to clock out for daily breaks, during which they normally pray.

The workers — all Somali Muslims who drive the company's rental cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling — were among 34 Hertz employees suspended Sept. 30 for failing to clock out before breaks.

The rental-car company at the time said some of the workers were taking longer than the 10 minutes allowed. The workers usually take two paid breaks during a regular eight-hour shift.

Nine of the 34 suspended drivers signed the agreement and have returned to their jobs, the company said.

Officials with Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said the two sides had tried to negotiate an agreement that would have allowed the workers to return to their pre-suspension status, under which they wouldn't have to clock out to pray.

But they were unable to agree.

Paul Zilly, spokesman for the union, said the workers were given an ultimatum to sign the document to clock out.

"They were debating, going back and forth," he said. "They all felt it was a contractual violation." He said that if Hertz believed certain employees were abusing the break policies, then it should have dealt with them individually, rather than penalizing an entire group.

"There may have been some taking longer than 10 minutes, but why single out the entire group based on their religion?"

A Hertz spokesman said many of the workers had been with the company for 15 years, and Hertz went out of its way to accommodate all of them, setting up a prayer room at the airport site.

That prayer room was said, by airport administration to be for all faiths, yet I dare any Christian, or Jew to try and enter that prayer room and practice another religion besides Islam.

The company had made it clear to the suspended workers that if they wanted to be reinstated they needed to agree to the clock-out conditions by the end of the day Thursday, said spokesman Rich Broome.

"We're disappointed that the rest of the transporters did not take us up on what we thought was a reasonable resolution of this matter — reserving their right to pray during paid breaks," Broome said.

"We felt clocking out is a fair way to maintain order while keeping our operations running smoothly."

Yet Muslims wanted special privileges to pray, even at the expense of the business and it's profits.

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