Royal Mail staff in Ramadan holiday row

[gb93]

Why are we having this debate?
There should be no, not a shred, of consideration given to Islam or it's adherents, end of.
They want to laze around on eid, ramadamadingdong, they know where Mecca is.

See the diversity training really left it's mark on you
Tut Tut

[dvbuk55]

just that they be allowed to take one of their AL days on the most holy day of their faith. I wouldn't have thought that was too much to ask.

Lets put that in perspective, there are limits as to how many people can have leave at any one time, certainly in a delivery office, if you had an influx of muslims or had a predominantly muslim staff how could they all take the day off?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I am quite frankly amazed at some of the responses on this thread. I thought we were a forum that respected workers right. From some of the posts it appears as though your rights are only respected as long you are not an adherent to the Islamic faith. Perhaps I should self censor news items based on religion, ethnicity or Political beliefs, but that would be an anathema for me.

A group of workers have normally had a religious holiday off and for some reason this year have been unable to do so. The reason may be Managerial incompetence, intransigence, or simply and inability to accede to the wishes of the workers. It also may be a misunderstanding of local procedures because of their recent transfer, it might even be just a few workers stirring up trouble.

If these WORKERS believe they have been treated incorrectly then I will support their attempts to rectify the situation, also if this is a case of a few chancers trying to get round the fact that they "forgot" too book or request the leave then they deserve what they get. But their religion or faith has no bearing on this matter, only the fact that there were treated fairly or unfairly.

Just a few corrections;

The Islamic Faith is no more foreign than Christianity, both religions come from the middle east and even share religious sites with each other and the Jewish Faith. That of course is only my opinion.

The Islamic faith has been made legal in the UK since the Trinitarian Act in 1812, so its not a new religion in the eyes of the law.

The 2001 census showed that there were 1.6 million followers of this faith in the UK, the highest after Christian.

My own beliefs are not even listed in the census so does that mean because my faith is more of a minority faith than Islam then my rights should be discounted.

[andy2007]

[mountec1]

You can't have fifty people on holiday in one go especially with the amount of jobs which have been cut, so tough.Poxy religion has to come in to it again.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

just that they be allowed to take one of their AL days on the most holy day of their faith. I wouldn't have thought that was too much to ask.

Lets put that in perspective, there are limits as to how many people can have leave at any one time, certainly in a delivery office, if you had an influx of muslims or had a predominantly muslim staff how could they all take the day off?

They can't but they should be treated with respect and where possible without affecting the "workplan" they should be allowed to take the day off as long as rules are followed. If this is what happened in Leeds then RM do not have a case to answer. If however they have not treated them with respect, or arbitrarily decided to cancel a previous agreement without informing them then I think that the workers have the right to complain as loud as they want.

The issue is not, IMHO, about faith or ethnicity, its about being treated fairly and with respect, and most of us know how RM do on that.

There is another way round it - Huddersfield has quite a high % of Islamic followers and where they wanted, management allowed people to swap days offs and cover each other duties on an informal basis. AFAIK everyone who wanted Eid off got it through deals with mates or official annual leave. Simples.

[fishtank]

If RM are quite happy to use casuals to break strikes would it not be possible to bring in some to actually help out their staff...just a thought.
There are many possible solutions if you really WANT to find one.

[dvbuk55]

If RM are quite happy to use casuals to break strikes would it not be possible to bring in some to actually help out their staff...just a thought.
There are many possible solutions if you really WANT to find one.

I would suspect not one that did not cost money and they definitely wouldn't want to find one like that.

[DirtyHarry]

Why are we having this debate?
There should be no, not a shred, of consideration given to Islam or it's adherents, end of.
They want to laze around on eid, ramadamadingdong, they know where Mecca is.

See the diversity training really left it's mark on you
Tut Tut

It would have to be a thorough brain-washing I underwent, before I would give even a quarter of an inch to an ideology such as Islam, when, if it had it's way, would not give a tinker's cuss about our rights/needs.
Seems fair to me, diversity brain-washing, or no diversity brain-washing.

[beinspired]

Why are we having this debate?
There should be no, not a shred, of consideration given to Islam or it's adherents, end of.
They want to laze around on eid, ramadamadingdong, they know where Mecca is.

See the diversity training really left it's mark on you
Tut Tut

It would have to be a thorough brain-washing I underwent, before I would give even a quarter of an inch to an ideology such as Islam, when, if it had it's way, would not give a tinker's cuss about our rights/needs.
Seems fair to me, diversity brain-washing, or no diversity brain-washing.

I think that's totally unfair. From what I understand, Islam is a peaceful religion and has contributed a lot to society - of course you have your bad apples, but which faith doesn't? Have some respect at least for your fellow Islamic workers and staff of all faiths.

[axeman]

far from peaceful thats for sure it's teachings are not what you think ! most would be shocked at them but one the + side most do not adhere to it's beliefs word for word

[fishtank]

The LORD is a man of war. Exodus 15:3

Fight in the way of Allah. Quran 2:244

[beinspired]

far from peaceful thats for sure it's teachings are not what you think ! most would be shocked at them but one the + side most do not adhere to it's beliefs word for word

I have looked into the teachings of the Muslim religion and there is nothing shocking about it, certainly no more shocking than whats in the bible or hindu scriptures. It basically teaches that there is one creator who sent a line of prophets from Noah to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad to show mankind the way. Its the fastest growing religion out there folks - we better get used to that fact.

[beinspired]

The LORD is a man of war. Exodus 15:3

Fight in the way of Allah. Quran 2:244

It is possible to take any words from any book out of context. The full verse is: 'Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loveth not aggressors.'

Sounds a bit different now?

[fishtank]

It is possible to take any words from any book out of context. The full verse is: 'Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loveth not aggressors.'

Sounds a bit different now?

Of course it does beinspired...that's the whole point.
Most people get their fix of religion from soundbites nowadays...short attention span you see.
Doesn't half lead to some less than educated ramblings though.