It’s a pretty straightforward principle: all people deserve equal treatment regardless of their faith or work.
But apparently, Amazon has some trouble with that.
In their sprawling Seattle headquarters, Amazon has prayer rooms that are accessible to all of their high-paid tech workers. But when Muslim workers at their security contractor, SIS, asked for the same, all they got in return was a pattern of intimidation and retaliation.
That’s just not right.
The higher-paid tech workers at Amazon have a dedicated prayer space, and taking time to use it is considered no big deal—but Abdinisir Elmi, who has worked as a security officer since 2012 and is good at his job, had noticed that his Muslim coworkers haven’t been given the same courtesy.
Elmi: “When I first started working at SIS, I saw one of my Muslim coworkers inform the supervisor that he was going to take his 10 minute break and pray. The supervisor pushed back, and this co-worker was written up for insubordination. It taught me that it was not okay to be religious at SIS. And to this day, I keep my faith a secret.”
This isn’t the only instance where Muslim workers were shown a pattern of disrespect. At one point, supervisors scheduled a training on terrorism during Ramadan. And when some Muslim employees took off to celebrate Eid (one of the major Muslim holidays), a supervisor announced to the rest of their coworkers: “a lot of positions are going to be open today, so you guys aren’t going to get the breaks you normally get—you’re only going to get lunches. So if you’re mad, don’t blame us, blame the Muslims.”
It’s not just the disrespect to Muslim workers that bothers Elmi—though that’d be an outrage on its own. To make matters worse, Elmi and many of his co-workers haven’t had cost-of-living raises for 4 years or more. And when Elmi and his co-workers have tried to organize for economic fairness, the crackdown from their bosses has been intense.
Elmi bravely told his story at a rally this past March—and has suffered intimidation and economic threats from his employer ever since. A few days after his remarks, he suddenly received a notice of disciplinary action focused on his past use of sick days—despite the fact that he had followed the exact SIS protocol for making use of his sick time. (In 2015, SIS had to settle charges with the city of Seattle over complaints of violating sick time law.)
Intimidating workers for participating in union events is illegal. In the last month, multiple SIS security officers have filed charges against their employer alleging retaliation for similar activities—including a threat of suspension and the cutting of work hours. When Elmi and a group of co-workers and supporters visited SIS offices to discuss this, a member of the human resources department decided to covertly film the officers with his cell phone—a breach of privacy often considered illegal in and of itself by the National Labor Relations Board.
But local faith and labor leaders, including ally tech workers, had Elmi’s back—and this month, they visited SIS officers to speak out against the retaliation, hand-delivering a letter from the larger Seattle community demanding an end to the injustice.
Elmi, along with a coalition of colleagues and supporters, has asked SIS for fairer treatment, which includes an end to favoritism and disrespect, and raises that reflect cost-of-living-increases. We’re proud to stand in solidarity with Elmi and his coworkers.
