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Management from the e-commerce giant have held meetings with staff from a warehouse in Minnesota, a move so rare on the part of Amazon that its has been reported in the New York Times. The warehouse in question, located in Shakopee, near the city of Minneapolis, is a special case. The 80,000-square-metre facility is located close to the so-called Twin Cities area, which has a rate of unemployment of just 3%. The high level of employment has made it difficult to find low-skilled workers to fill the 1,500 positions at the warehouse. Amazon therefore turned to Somali refugees that had arrived in the state, who were happy with the opportunity of employment. However, their attitude changed somewhat when the workload at the warehouse increased from dealing with 160 packages an hour to 230. When the situation changed, the staff turned to an association named Awood, run by Abdiraham Muse, a Somali himself who formerly served as an adviser to the mayor of Minneapolis and set up a support centre for refugees, with the financial help of the SEIU trade union. Thanks to the work of Abdiraham Muse, two meetings have been held between the Amazon staff members concerned and management at the company. The staff, who keep in contact via WhatsApp, have requested a Somali manager to act as an intermediary, and have also demanded that the workload be lessened during the period of Ramadan, since they are Muslims. Amazon have made proposals in search of a compromise, but these are not deemed sufficient by the workers, who have called for a protest to take place on 14 December.
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