UK fire service introduces hijab for Muslim workers

The fire service's new uniform for Muslim women

By Jaya Narain

Pop into the firestation and the chances are there'd be a group of reassuringly burly men in there waiting for the call out, with uniforms and firefighting suits tailored for their use alone.

The one or two women among them would have to make do with ill-fitting adaptations of the men's outfits while the handful of Muslim women in the service would be wearing their own head scarfs.

But, with the fire service anxious to attract recruits of all sexes and backgrounds, it was decided that something had to be done.

So yesterday the results were uneveiled, including full-length skirts, hijab headscarfs and long- sleeved shirts for Muslim women recruits.

The hope is that the uniforms, designed for wearing round the station and for outings such as school trips, will be smarter and better fitting for every firefighter - even the men.

For the first time also, women will get their own mustard yellow fire-fighting suit designed to protect their breasts and upper body.

This outfit was tried on yesterday by Lincolnshire firefighter Julie Smith.

'It is right that male firefighters and female firefighters to need protection in different areas,' she said. 'It is very comfortable, very new and very yellow.'

Her boss Mike Thomas, Chief Fire Officer for Lincolnshire, declared the uniforms would help 'bust' the ' traditional image of the hunky, British, white, male, firefighter' - even though a great many of his staff probably fit this description.

'There are no better positive role models than women and ethnic recruits in these uniforms, and hopefully they will encourage people to join,' he added.

Firemen in Lincolnshire will be the first to try out the new national uniform which also includes sports and maternity wear.

Fire minister Sadiq Khan added: 'We want the widest range of applicants to apply to join the fire and rescue service. Read more ...

Source: Daily Mail
H/T: Jihad Watch

Minnesota: Muslims at chicken plant win $1.35 million in discrimination suit

By Chris Serres

A federal judge gave approval for Gold'n Plump Inc. and an employment agency to pay $1.35 million to settle lawsuits alleging religious discrimination against Muslims at a chicken processing plant in Cold Spring, Minn.

The money will go to 128 Somali Muslims who claim that St. Cloud-based Gold'n Plump violated their religious rights by refusing to allow them prayer breaks during work hours, and to another 28 workers who said a St. Paul employment agency, the Work Connection Inc., required them to sign forms acknowledging they would be required to handle pork.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated the allegations and said it found cause to believe discrimination occurred, according to lawsuits filed last year.

In a settlement approved Tuesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham, Gold'n Plump will add a paid break during the second half of each shift to accommodate Muslim employees who wish to pray. The break is in addition to one early in the shift and lunch breaks required by law. Read more ...

Source: Star Tribune
H/T: Jihad WatchEEOC
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Should Muslims living in a non-Muslim country integrate into host society?
	I am a Muslim living in a predominantly Muslim country
	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
	No, Muslims should live segregated from the host society
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	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
	No, Muslims should live segregated from the host society
	I am a Muslim living in Western Europe
	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
	No, Muslims should live segregated from the host society
	I am a Muslim living in Eastern Europe
	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
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	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
	No, Muslims should live segregated from the host society
	I am not a Muslim
	Yes, Muslims should integrate into the host society
	No, Muslims should live segregated from the host society

Muslims protest full-head photosState bill requires drivers to bare hair for license pictures

Drivers license photos of Hindia Ali and Suban Khalif,
from a WCCO-TV broadcast

By Drew Zahn

Muslims in Minnesota are speaking out over a bill introduced in the state's House of Representatives that would require all drivers licenses to include an identifying photo that shows the full head and face without any form of headwear.

Suban Khalif and Hindia Ali told WCCO-TV in Minneapolis that their Muslim faith demands they wear a traditional head scarf nearly 24 hours a day, and that to remove it for an identifying photo would trample their religious rights.

"Daily, I cover my hair," Khalif told the television station. "And I don't think I need to show my hair on a driver's license. It just doesn't make sense to me at all."

Ali added, "My facial expressions, my face, my nose, my eyes should be clearly enough for any person to tell us apart."

Aman Obsiye of the United Somali Movement told WCCO, "There's no logic behind the bill, so we want to know really what is the motivation behind the bill." Read more ...

Source: WND

JBS Swift Muslim workers protest Ramadan reversal

Muslim employees of Greeley's JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant
congregate Monday at Lincoln Park, 10th Avenue and 9th Street
in Greeley, to hear the compromise reached by the Somali
Muslim community leaders and the executives at Swift. The
workers are asking the company to allow them to have their
break at 7:30 p.m. to break their fast of Ramadan.

By Chris Casey

More than 150 Muslim workers didn't report to their meatpacking plant jobs Monday in the wake of what they called JBS Swift & Co.'s sudden reversal of accommodation for their religious fasting during Ramadan.

The workers initially planned a two-mile march from downtown Greeley's Lincoln Park to the plant, but a gathering that formed mid-morning never left the park. Throughout the day, several Greeley police officers watched from the park's edge.

Company officials met with several workers Monday afternoon at the plant, and Somali representatives later spoke with workers in downtown Greeley.

Graen Isse, a Swift worker and group spokesman, said the workers would not discuss details of their grievances, which were supplied to Swift in writing, until the company responded. He said he expected to hear from Swift Tuesday morning.

"I believe (the workers) will be back to their jobs," Isse said.

Asked what would happen if the workers didn't get what they wanted, Isse said, "That's another question. We'll pass on that." Read more ...

Source: Greeley Tribune

Marseilles: Husband sent to prison for veil attack

A man who had hit his wife in a parking lot and fractured her nose, because she had rolled up her veil due to the heat, was sentenced to two years in prison, 18 months of which are suspended, in a court in Marseilles.

The prosecution demanded eight months in prison, three of which to be suspended.

Ali Nassakh (30), of Algerian nationality, was placed in detention.

A passerby alerted authorities after seeing the young woman's bloodied face. She burst into tears when he husband testified that she had banged her head on a car parked nearby.

The young woman claimed compensation. To the investigators she had said she had explained to her husband that "in our religion the husband doesn't have a right to tell his wife to do what he wants."

Source: Le Figaro (French)
H/T: Islam in Europe

Are Muslim Defendants Getting Special Treatment in Court?

An otherwise unremarkable hearing in the Fairfax County, Virginia, general district court last Thursday marked an ominous trend with respect to the cherished American judicial principles of the rule of law and equality before the law. The hearing on four misdemeanor charges against Dr. Mustafa Ahmed Abbasi featured all of the usual players - judge, bailiff, clerks, prosecutors, police officers, criminal attorneys, and defendant - but with one notable addition to the judicial drama, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR’s intervention in the Abbasi case is a manifestation of a larger campaign against law enforcement to use political alliances and legal threats to intimidate police in cases involving Muslim defendants and to establish separate and preferable treatment for Muslims in the American legal system. Read more ...

Source: Pajamas Media