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Dozens of Muslim Amazon workers and their supporters took part in a “pray-in” Friday in a protest against what they contend is religious discrimination by the tech giant.
The workers and supporters with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) answered the noon call to prayer near the grand plaza inside Amazon’s South Lake Union campus.
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Some Muslim security employees contend they have been treated unfairly after requesting space to pray. The workers are employed by Amazon and subcontractors.
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In a statement, security worker Ismahan Ismail described herself as a proud U.S. citizen, Somalian refugee and Navy veteran who was nonetheless singled out because of her religion.
“I believe in fairness and building this country up. It’s why I do security now,” Ismail said in a statement provided by SEIU. “But when I asked management for a prayer space to use on my work breaks, I felt I was treated unfairly. I tried to go through the proper channels to fix this. But I couldn’t get anything resolved.”
Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.
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