Muslims To Protest Amazon Security Contractor Over Lack Of Prayer Rooms

Marching. It’s the cool new thing to do. You have a problem with something? March! Sick of the oppressive patriarchy? Join the Women’s March! Afraid we’re going to die due to climate change? March for Science! Sick of Amazon’s security contractor not providing the best prayer rooms for Muslim workers? March against the company too!

That’s actually happening. Muslims are planning a protest at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington on May 1st. Why? Over the security contractor’s supposed lack of concern for providing time and space for Muslim prayer practices. Workers have filed charges and everything.

The security firm that patrols the headquarters of tech giant Amazon is under fire for allegedly mistreating its Muslim workers, with critics claiming the contractor does not appropriately accommodate their faith — and retaliates against those who speak out.

 

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But Muslims employed by the e-commerce giant’s security contractor, Security Industry Specialists (SIS), say use of prayer rooms was not fully extended to lower-paid officers who patrol Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington — even though Muslims represent a sizable portion of the roughly 800 security personnel.

 

More broadly, they claim that SIS — and Amazon — both have a history of mistreating or failing to accommodate those who claim Islam as their faith.

However, SIS president and CFO Tom Seltz said the allegations are total garbage.

“Our employees assigned to Amazon have always been permitted to access space (when available) to pray on breaks, even before dedicated prayer rooms were formally introduced,” he told ThinkProgress.

“Before prayer rooms were introduced, employees generally used a vacant conference room or quiet room, when available,” he continued. “This has been the case for the past four years (since we’ve been at Amazon), and the recent addition of dedicated prayer rooms has just made access even easier. We count ourselves as fortunate that Amazon extends this accommodation to our employees.”

Long story short, this is all over prayer spaces.

“Some employees are told, well, go to your car [to pray],” Ismahan Ismail, a former SIS employee who now works for Amazon, told ThinkProgress. “Some don’t even have a car.”

According to other Muslims, the company has suggested that they go to the other end of Amazon’s building to pray. But they say that won’t work, because their break isn’t long enough to walk there and back. Workers also accuse their bosses of being insensitive to other aspects of their religion, like their religious holidays and specific prayer times.

Workers also allege that some managers have been insensitive about Muslim holidays. According to workers, one supervisor supposedly told fellow staff that anyone upset about working through a break should “blame the Muslims” who took time off during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. One current security officer on the campus, Elmi Mohamad, also recounted an incident where a worker was allegedly reprimanded in public for leaving to pray during a meeting.

I get the whole religious accommodation thing, but having people get up in the middle of an important meeting would get real old real fast.

Anyway, the protest.

Outraged Muslims to Rally Against Amazon Over Alleged Lack of Prayer Rooms https://t.co/DNNXVBFprO pic.twitter.com/ZpUgIfLIvU

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 22, 2017

I know I’m walking a fine line here, but most Christians have to work Sundays. You don’t see them throwing fits. Companies don’t offer complimentary chapels or Bibles to them. This is the kind of stuff that makes an employer more apt to hire a non-Muslim over a Muslim. You don’t have to deal with all of the difficult requests. In most cases, it has nothing to do with them being Islamic and everything to do with effectively running a company. If religious beliefs actually hinder a company’s ability to carry out daily tasks and operations, what then? Do Muslim workers really have a case? Do these people expect reasonable religious accommodations or special treatment?

Discuss.