ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON LAURALOOMER.US
Amazon is holding a Summer Event called Prime Day between July 15 and July 16 where new products will be showcased with an exclusive PRIME DAY LIVE CONCERT featuring Taylor Swift performing live with Dua Lipa, SZA, Becky G, and host Jane Lynch. The concert was presented by Amazon Music July 10, 2019. Sharia compliant Muslims who work for Amazon’s Minnesota warehouse have decided to hijack Prime Day to protest for a sharia compliant workplace…or what they call “Work Halal”.
“Work Halal” refers to workplace environments that have an Islamic environment and are Sharia compliant. At WorkHalal.com, jobs at Amazon are frequently posted.
In what seems to be an annual event, the Somali Community of Minnesota has been protesting and holding strikes against Amazon since they opened their fulfillment center. In May of 2016, Amazon opened a massive 820,000 square foot warehouse in the suburb of Minneapolis. At the time it opened up for business, the unemployment rate in Minneapolis was roughly 3.5%.
2017
As reported by many news outlets in April 2017, newly employed Islamic migrants who began working for Amazon filed a lawsuit against Amazon for failing to make accommodations for Muslims. Earlier that year in February of 2017 an almost identical lawsuit and demonstration against Amazon was conducted in Seattle, WA.
2018
In 2018, the Somali Community once again gathered and organized to discuss working conditions, specifically the matter of work halal. It was the second year in a row such a demonstration was orchestrated.
In November of 2018 once again the Somali Amazon workers of the Shakopee facility began to organize.
As reported by the New York Times :
Last week, Amazon offered some compromises at its facilities in the Minneapolis area. The company said it would require a general manager and a Somali-speaking manager to agree on any firings related to productivity rates, designate a manager to respond to individual complaints within five days and meet with workers quarterly.
By Saturday night, though, a group of about 40 workers had decided the compromises were insufficient, with a primary concern being the pace at which they are expected to work. They voted to stage a large protest and walkout on Dec. 14, in the thick of the holiday season.
NY TIMES NOV 20, 2018
It should be noted that Mogadishu, Minneapolis is one of the most talked about cities refereed to as “New Somalia” by Somali News outlet Bandhiga that has a dedicated .com for the English version of its site Bandhigamedia.
As reported by Badhigamedia:
Ilhan Omar said in an email that she feels it’s important for Amazon to fully “take into consideration the particular needs and practices of this community.”
Amazon has shown a willingness to invest in American communities and build up in areas where there businesses are located,” Omar wrote. “We want to see the company make that same investment in American workers and make sure profits and benefits are being adequately and equitably distributed to their own workers. There is no better time to deliver this message than right now — during a month when the holiday season is increasing not only Amazon’s profitability, but also the pressure on their workers, and time they are asked to spend away from their families.”
Omar email to Bandhigamedia
Laura Loomer reported on this protest and demonstration pointing out how incredible their demands were when other workers within Amazon of a different faith have never demanded accommodations.
We do not have enough time to pray. There is a lot of pressure. They say your rate is too low.
Ahmad an Amazon Employee interview with AFP
At the time, Ilhan Omar was the newly elected representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district. She herself is Somali. The demonstration at the fulfillment center was scheduled during the holiday period to cause disruption and or impact deliveries during the Holiday season, specifically during Christmas. Though, Omar went as far as to infer that Muslims packaging holiday gifts in the warehouse was in essence stripping them of their “dignity”.
2019
Once again right on schedule for the THIRD consecutive year the matter of WORK HALAL is at the forefront. The Somali workers of Amazon who make up over 30% of the workforce at the Shakopee fulfillment center in Minnesota are filing federal lawsuits and have planned a demonstration during PRIME DAY to once again “send a message” to Amazon by impacting their deliveries during that busy period.
LauraLoomer.US reached out to Amazon and they advised us that in 2018 the company “implemented new rules to accommodate employees of the Muslim faith”.
We offer breaks less than 20 minutes for prayer that are paid, but we will not adjust the productivity expectations for such breaks as we stated last year. The workers that practice Islam that work for us are also able to ask for UNPAID breaks to pray that are over 20 minutes and if they have unpaid breaks we would obviously adjust their production targets.
Amazon Press Contact
We decided to ask the employees themselves what problems they have even though Amazon has offered them PAID time off to pray which no other religious group in the USA has ever been afforded.
Abdul has been working for Amazon since it opened. He is 34, has no formal education and can speak and read some English, but we had trouble understanding him. He came to the country by being sponsored by his cousin Nahar and described how easy it was to come to the US.
The statement was provided to this journalist in Arabic, and was translated to English:
What Amazon doesn’t understand is that they must make accommodations for us and comparing us to other religions are wrong. Islam unlike other religions hasn’t changed over time to accommodate for culture which shows discipline and true faith which means we do not compromise. It is what it is and we have the right to demand it that is why my people have filed the lawsuits against Amazon in 2017, 2018 and again in Seattle two months ago. It’s not work-halal compliant because it does not make accommodations for people of Islamic faith.
Abdel -Fulfillment Worker Amazon
Indeed another lawsuit was filed in May 2019 by Muslim Amazon workers in Seattle. As the New York Times reported “Three Somali women working for Amazon near Minneapolis have accused the company of creating a hostile environment for Muslim workers and of retaliating against them for protesting their work conditions, according to a filing submitted this week to federal regulators.
What is the bottom line? They want SPECIAL treatment. In summary, they want to be able to have different packing or work related targets than other employees of Amazon because when they take breaks for prayer they are unable to make the days quota which results in disciplinary action. When we probed to ask why they won’t take paid time off if their prayer is longer than 20 min to get this adjustment to their quota, Mosha another worker for Amazon said:
In my country Somalia and all other Islamic Faith nations they have dedicated prayer rooms and pay us while we pray and we demand the same in the United States as it is a right afforded to us by Allah.
Mosha interview with LauraLoomer.us staff
In the United States, no group of persons is afforded special accommodations in a workplace unless they are medically necessary. It seems that the Somali migrants who have been imported into our nation don’t wish to assimilate. Maybe we should be rethinking where we “recruit” immigrants from because maybe their culture or their work ethic doesn’t agree with ours. It seems that most of these migrants detest and or have deep seated hatred for America like Ilhan Omar has demonstrated.If they hate America, why are they coming into our country?
Reported by Alicia Powe, another contributor for LauraLoomer.US, Tucker Carlson’s commentary last night was on point. He said:
Omar isn’t disappointed in America, she’s enraged by it. Virtually every public statement she makes accuses Americans of bigotry and racism. This is an immoral country, she says. She has undisguised contempt for the United States and for its people. That should worry you, and not just because Omar is now a sitting member of Congress.
Tucker Carlson 7/09/2019
We reached out to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office asking if she would be attending the protest, and we have yet to receive a response.
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