Shakopee Minnesota Amazon Workers Demand Time Off for Eid...

the Muslim holiday that began on Sunday.  If the managers would diversify the staff -- hire more non-Muslims -- they likely would get plenty of people picking up extra shifts because it's not our religious holiday.  The Muslim holidays, ironically, are the best time to gain extra hours there -- more than the peak days or even the Christmas season -- because they were so short-staffed with nobody signing up to take the hours.  If workers had "stored up" unpaid, excused time off, there was little management could do to make workers come in.  But, likely what is happening here is that the absences are not excused if observant Muslims want to take their holidays without getting disciplinary "points" -- which can add up and result in termination.

Amazon provided prayer areas for the men and women separately off against a wall behind one of the lines, and the most observant would get on their knees, and hands, and bow their heads praying daily.  It wasn't very private for those walking by, and there were no prayer rugs, just cardboard pieces but they were free to take the breaks as needed, I learned.

It was pointed out on our first day tour of the factory, but as a non-Muslim worker you didn't really catch on until you started to notice that the people working a line with you were disappearing suddenly, and then realizing where they were going.  My impression was they liked working together, and pulled in relatives and friends into the job.  But pushing for a more diverse work crew would also help their cause to balance out the holidays and breaktimes.

I hope they win, and eventually can get that factory unionized.  I understand why years ago, Illinois lost in court when the whole state was mandating schools shut down for Good Friday.  But I also understand why many school districts work that day off into long weekend on their district's school calendar.  I also know that if school was in session, any family that wanted could simply call in and get an excused day off from attendance.  That's the way it should be in Shakopee, I think.  Excused absences no matter how little time off (unpaid or paid) a worker might have coming in their time bank.

Management just needs to work harder to incentivize other workers to come in those days, or consumers need to accept that their packages might be a day or two late the following week as the lines simply have to roll slower -- with less trucks unloaded those days -- because of worker shortages.

(I see my former cafeteria through those windows!  Quick story: one morning I was in there alone when it was dark out -- a lot of people went outside to smoke/rest in their cars/get outside away from the Covid, I guess -- and a new driver overshoots the parking space right and rolls over the sidewalk into the window.  Kinda hard.  Didn't break glass or anything, but...  I went out and mentioned it to security who went out and checked on her as she didn't exit the vehicle right away.  Never crossed my mind that it could be a "terrorist attack", just a new driver!  Funny how working with different types of people changes your perceptions of who other people are, what they value, and what is really going on in a situation.  I think they put some bushes in later.  Another thing I noticed:  the women tended to work much harder than the more lackadaisical men there, and simply accepted it, but then again, the harder working men in that culture likely weren't working the overnight factory shift so it was older ones there.  Conservative, friendly-ish to me, and religious, the women were.  Eventually I got to know a few faces, but it was kinda hard just seeing a bit of the face uncovered, with the hijabs and masks and everything.  For the first few weeks, I could only tell them apart by the color and fabrics they wore, I'll be honest, which unfortunately was ever changing.  I know that sounds bad, but it's true.  I liked them though, gentle people, and wish them well in getting their holiday early mornings with family off!)