Tuesday June 5, 2018
By Emma Sapong
Nimo Omar, is an organizer with Awood Center, which held a press conference demanding better working condition for East African workers at Amazon's warehouse in Eagan on June 4, 2018. Emma Sapong | MPR News
A group of East African workers at Amazon's warehouse in Eagan,
Minn., demanded safer work conditions from the online retail behemoth
Monday at a news conference outside the facility.
The employees made claims of exhaustion, dehydration and injuries they
said they suffered while doing work as individuals that is meant to be
done in teams at the facility, without air conditioning.
Further, they said working conditions were unconducive for the largely Muslim workforce, which is celebrating Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month during which Muslims observe strict fasting from sunrise to sunset.
"Recently,
I couldn't work because I needed water," Nimo Hirad, said through an
interpreter. "I got so thirsty, I couldn't even swallow my saliva. I
ended up breaking my fast and drinking water two days in a row."
An Amazon spokesperson disputed the group's claims in an email seeking comment: "We
offer a positive and accommodating workplace for employees at this
delivery station, including great pay of more than $15 per hour and
benefits," the spokesperson, Ernesto Apreza, said. "The site is equipped
with air conditioning in the break areas and fans throughout the
building."
Apreza said the company respects religious practices of employees and offers accommodations.
"We have a temporary prayer room at this location and are in the process
of building a permanent one," he said in the statement.
The 140,000-square-foot office space and warehouse is at 2811 Beverly Dr.
Worker said she complained to company
The news conference was called by Minneapolis-based Awood Center,
which defends the rights of East African workers. The group has
received a couple dozen complaints from workers at the Amazon facility,
five of which reported injuries, in the past two months.
It was unclear if the employees also filed claims with Amazon or with
the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Amazon
workers Nimo Hirad and Decqa Mohamed were among those at a press
conference of East African workers who demanded safer working conditions
at Amazon warehouse in Eagan on June 4, 2018. Emma Sapong | MPR News
"There
are a lot of other workers complaining about the same issues," said
Nimo Omar, an organizer with Awood, which prompted the involvement of
the center.
Omar said order pickers, who load same-day delivery
packages onto vans, used to work as a team of two until a few months
ago. One person is now doing the work but the workload hasn't changed,
Omar alleged. She said injuries reported to Awood have ranged from
workers dropping packages on their feet to kidney pain.
Hirad, who has been a picker for about two years at the facility, said
workers told management about the workload concerns a couple of months
ahead of Ramadan because they knew the problems would be compounded by
the sun-up to sun-down fasting.
"When we complained, the managers said if you're not able to do the job, quit," Hirad said.
Demand: More sensitivity to workers
Decqa
Mohamed, also a picker, said she and other workers want considerations
and more sensitivity for their religion and culture.
"We want Amazon to respect us and listen to our concerns and actually do
something about those concerns," she said, through an interpreter.
Hirad and Mohamed said the staff of pickers are largely East African and
the facility doesn't have any East Africans in management positions.
However, Amazon does have a current job posting for a Somali-speaking manager to work at that location.
The
group of about two dozen people chanted and then marched their list of
demands into the building, handing it to Christopher Warren, general
manager of the facility.
Warren declined to comment.