Workers' rights group questions Amazon's motive for closing Shakopee sort facility

Labor rights activists say Amazon's plans to shutter its sort center in Shakopee and terminate hundreds of jobs is retaliation for workers' organizing efforts — a claim that's rejected by the online retail giant.

Amazon plans to shut down the facility after its lease expires, according to a Jan. 30 letter the company sent to the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development. The sort center will cease operations on March 31, at which point the jobs of an estimated 680 workers will be terminated, according to Amazon's letter.

Amazon officials said workers at the sort center will have the option of transferring to other facilities in Minnesota. Steve Kelly, a spokesman for Amazon, said employees who choose to leave the company instead of relocating to a different facility would be given "support," but did not specify what that would entail.

The sort center, at 5825 11th Av. E., is smaller than the company's fulfillment center in Shakopee.

Amazon's actions have drawn the attention of the Awood Center, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that supports East African workers. The organization has worked extensively with Amazon employees who have staged several walkouts and demonstrations at the company's facilities in Shakopee and Eagan.

Abdirahman Muse, executive director at the Awood Center, called the company's announcement an act of retaliation against workers' organizing efforts.

"We believe that Amazon's decision to close this facility is wrong and retaliatory based on the powerful efforts of workers who have been organizing with the Awood Center and demanding better working conditions, particularly through their advocacy for the warehouse safety bill in the Minnesota Legislature," said a statement from the center.

Local Amazon workers, led by East African staffers, have publicly demanded pay raises while criticizing the company for work quotas and workplace conditions. Workers also say the company refused to give Muslim employees time off to celebrate the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr.

Kelly said that closing the facility had nothing to do with "reducing head count" or ongoing worker protests at the nearby fulfillment center. He said there are safety tests that all employees must pass to work at certain facilities.

"We're always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees, customers, partners and drivers," he said, "As part of that effort, we may close older sites, enhance existing facilities, or open new sites, and we weigh a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites or maintain a presence."

According to the letter Amazon sent to the state, employees who will be no longer working for the company will be paid all wages and benefits through their date of separation, provided they don't resign before then.

Kelly said that Amazon hopes to accommodate the scheduling preferences of those employees looking to transfer within the company. The company declined to say how many employees are expected to part ways with Amazon.

Asha Ibrahim, 30, has worked at the Shakopee sort center for a year and hopes to transfer to the Amazon fulfillment center nearby. She said her transfer has not been finalized.

"I felt sad because the place I had been working at is being closed," Ibrahim said through an interpreter.

The Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee has been the site of rallies where workers demanded better pay and time off for religious holidays. Another rally was planned for Sunday outside the Shakopee sort center.

Amazon employees in Eagan, where Ibrahim previously worked, walked out in November after the company announced it would be laying off workers who couldn't switch from a day shift to a night shift.