Saturday July 13, 2024
by Joey Peters
The founding director of the Awood Center steps into a bigger role in his new job with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Abdirahman Muse joined the U.S. Department of Labor in June as a senior adviser in the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. He served for several years as executive director of the Awood Center, which advocates for Minnesota's East African workers. Credit: U.S. Department of Labor
During his six years leading the Awood Center, Abdirahman Muse was a familiar face on picket lines outside Amazon warehouses in the Twin Cities.
The longtime advocate for East African workers joined the U.S. Department of Labor last month as a senior adviser in the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs. Abdi, 43, was appointed to the position by the Biden administration.
“I’m really honored to be able to have this platform to advance workers’ rights under the vision of President Biden and Acting [Labor] Secretary Julie Su,” he said.
News of his new role in Washington drew praise from Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and other Minnesota progressives.
“From leading the Awood Center to now shaping national labor policy, you continue to make our community proud,” Omar wrote on X, the social media website formally known as Twitter, following the announcement of Abdi’s appointment last month.
Abdi was the inaugural executive director of Awood Center, which started as a joint effort by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26 and the Minnesota chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations.
During his time at Awood, the organization focused mainly on workers’ issues in Amazon and Amazon-affiliated warehouses around the Twin Cities, where many East African immigrants are employed. Abdi was frequently seen picketing with Amazon workers during walkouts over issues like quotas, pay, break times, firings, and more.
Abdi also served on the Metropolitan Council from 2019 to 2023, served as a senior policy aide for former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, and was an organizer for SEIU Healthcare Minnesota.
At his new job, which he began late last month, he focuses on protections for federal workers injured on the job and reports to Christopher Godfrey, head of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs.
“The goal is to make sure workers have access to timely and efficient processing, and make sure they get the medical care and the financial support and feel supported while they are injured on the job,” he said.
In a video call, Abdi said he had just relocated to the Washington, D.C., area with his wife and three daughters.
“I’m looking forward to settling in and getting used to a new community,” he said.
Telling workers’ stories
Abdi said his biggest accomplishment during his time at Awood was helping to pass legislation that addressed warehouse safety issues. The law, passed in 2023, requires warehouse distribution centers that employ 250 people or more to publicly disclose work quotas and work-speed data. Employers must also honor bathroom breaks, meal breaks and prayer breaks.
The law also requires distribution center employers whose safety incidents exceed the national average by more than 30% in a year to form a safety committee that meets and reviews such incidents for two years.
State Representative Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, authored the House version of the bill, which took almost three years to pass. Greeman said the issue gained her attention after Abdi approached her with a coalition of supporters. Abdi’s strategic vision in organizing at Awood Center involved “listening to the lives and stories of workers and figuring out the policy solutions that can protect them,” Greenman said.
Throughout the legislative process, Abdi played a key role in moving the bill, and this was largely through getting warehouse workers to testify and share their stories about workplace conditions, Greenman said.
“Every press conference and every hearing we had really focused on the stories of workers,” Greenman said. “Abdi didn’t actually speak at most of the press conferences, and yet he was the driving force.”
Abdi said he will continue to promote the interests of workers from marginalized communities in his new role in Washington. He noted that Su, the acting Labor Secretary, is the daughter of immigrants and similarly advocated for immigrant workers as a labor attorney before going into government.
“As someone who comes from those communities, I will always amplify their voices,” Abdi said. “The department is really focused on highlighting that area, and I’m really happy to be a part of that vision.”
Abdi also repeatedly called Biden the most pro-labor president in the country’s history, and emphasized that he was honored to be a part of the administration. But he would not comment on what his plans are if Biden loses the election this fall.
“I’m focusing on really doing my job right now in D.C. and to make [the] most of every day to make sure that we really build an economy that works for everyone and enforce workers’ protections and support workers’ rights,” he said.
In the meantime, Awood Center recently named Deqa Essa, who previously worked as the CFO and vice president of administration at Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, as its new executive director.