Muslims in Italy are taking advantage of May Day to demand public holidays in the work calendar.
The president of the Union of Italian Islamic Communities is taking advantage of Labour Day to call for the two main Muslim holidays to be added to the work calendar and for companies to grant 40 minutes every Friday for the Islamic midday prayer.
Illustrative image
Artificial intelligence
[social-share align=»right» style=»button» mobile_app=»desktop»]
[social-share align=»center» style=»icon» mobile_app=»mobile»]
After the May Day demonstrations and the weekend's usual trade-union liturgy, organised Islam now arrives with religious demands framed in labour terms. Media set and other media report that the president of the UCOII, Yassine Baradai, has published a letter addressed “to the workers of Italy, to the social partners, to the institutions and to the business community”. The text presents itself as a reflection on the dignity of work in the Islamic tradition, but it soon veers towards a very concrete agenda: denunciation of Islamophobia, alleged discrimination against Muslim women, lack of recognition of the two main annual Islamic festivals and demand for spaces for Friday prayers.
The festivals of Allah, presented as labour rights
Under the seemingly neutral phrase “lack of recognition of the two annual religious festivals”, the UCOII is putting forward a far-reaching demand: that the main Muslim holidays cease to depend on individual permits, negotiated leave or shift changes. Now the demand is that the end of Ramadan and the Feast of the Lamb be paid holidays like the day of… Christmas. The demand is presented as a matter of dignity and non-discrimination, but it involves an obvious political leap: turning celebrations proper to a specific religious denomination into a subject of public and labour negotiations. This must be so because, according to Baradai, «The festivals of Allah must be respected.».
And the request does not stop here: The UCOII also demands that companies allow around 40 minutes each Friday for the Islamic midday prayer., paid or recoverable, thus incorporating the weekly Muslim prayer into the ordinary organisation of the working day.
The president of the UCOII defends these demands with a deliberately social vocabulary: he speaks of the dignity of labour, religious freedom, inclusion and the fight against discrimination. For this reason, he presents these measures not as privileges, but as rights. as “reasonable accommodations” within a multicultural society. In the letter, Baradai also draws on Islamic tradition to reinforce his argument. He does so with a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad as if it were an article of the Constitution: “Give the worker his wages before his sweat has dried.”With this reference, he links religious claims to the idea of labour justice and attempts to situate them within the language of workers' rights.
The left does not reject the idea.
The political and trade union reaction also explains why the UCOII's letter has traction. For the time being, There is no outright rejection by the major Italian trade unions or by the parliamentary left of the possibility of addressing these demands within the labour framework.. The same letter explicitly addresses the “social partners”, that is, the actors who negotiate collective agreements and working conditions, and presents the requests as a matter of inclusion, non-discrimination and workers' rights. Some local media outlets have reported the proposal in these terms: workplace dignity, full inclusion of Muslim workers, difficulties in observing Islamic festivals, flexibility for Friday prayers, suitable menus and prayer rooms.
On the right and among critical quarters, however, the interpretation is very different: they do not see a mere request for flexibility, but an attempt to introduce the Islamic religious agenda into employment contracts. Gianluigi Paragone, writing in La Verità, has presented the controversy as a desire to ’institutionalise Ramadan“, while other conservative voices warn that the language of inclusion could turn any corporate refusal into an accusation of Islamophobia or discrimination. The contrast is significant: while the right denounces the risk of a cultural concession, the left and the trade unions do not shut the door, because the debate reaches them wrapped in the vocabulary that is their own: work, rights, equality, inclusion and the fight against discrimination.
More about Ramadan
A study by Can Ruti and Sant Pau proposes not testing pregnant women for glucose during Ramadan.
Sant Andreu observes Ramadan with a prayer room at the district headquarters.
Bonpreu is sponsoring an iftar in Lleida featuring a conservative Islamic preacher.
New York police explain they put up Ramadan lights to «educate» non-Muslims
Pep Guardiola rebukes fans who boo during the Ramadan break
The UAB bows to Islam: prayer rooms, an imam and catering for Ramadan
ERC, PSC and Comuns oppose combating political Islam in the European Parliament.
Azerbaijan expels students who wear Islamic headscarves from school
Sharia law in the US is supported by 75% of Muslims, 41% of atheists and up to 20% of Christians.
France now has a halal meat supply without the need to sacrifice animals facing Mecca.
The United Kingdom gives away a thousand hijabs in six months to immigrants arriving via the Channel
US Muslim politicians train Canadian Muslims under the slogan "From the mosque to the city hall"«
Teacher fired in Austria for denying a Muslim woman a prayer room
Canadian government normalizes Islamic prayer during workday
Lleida bans the burqa except if worn for religious reasons
Italy bans burqa and niqab but only in schools
The Generalitat pays tribute to the racist Abu Bakr al-Turtuxí as an anti-racist icon
A student residence in Scotland imposes Islamic law in common areas
Kazakhstan threatens to close private schools that allow hijab
A Catholic university in Belgium incorporates Islamic chants into the opening mass of the course
A Muslim family in Granada chooses a Catholic school and demands that the courts teach Islam there
Phrase of the Week
Image of the Week
-Don't you have cousins?
