SHAKOPEE, Minn. — Friday night, Amazon employees walked out on their jobs asking for the return of two things.
The three dollar wage increase they saw during the peak worker shortage, and what's called unlimited VTO — voluntary time off — for the Muslim holiday Eid that marks the end of Ramadan.
"There was this three dollar increase on nightshifts that we used to have, starting from October. I suppose they gave it because there was increased competition for workers at the time," Mohamed Dhore said.
According to Dhore and Tyler Hamilton, both Amazon employees, the pay increase went away.
"Most people don't have rent that just drops, the price of food hasn't dropped, there's some people who commute a long ways, they've been paying for gas," Hamilton said. "And a company like Amazon they can afford it easily, and they were affording it."
Hamilton says in terms of taking time off, workers have a limited pool of time away from work, whether it's paid or unpaid. He says exceeding that limit could get workers fired. They are asking for Eid to be exempt from that pool...just like Christmas.
"Any worker who wanted to do that yesterday and today for Eid, had to use their own time off and that is their sick time, their car crash time, their 'my kid had an emergency time,'" Hamilton said. "Which means because Eid is not fully shut down and off like Christmas is, they are that much closer to being fired, or running out of time off when stuff happens."
"[Eid] is used as a celebration...to spend time with family and friends and just to relax after a month of fasting and observance," Dhore said.
An Amazon spokesperson said on Monday that if an individual is put in a situation where they have run out of time, they would be able to speak with a manager and move forward on a case-by-case basis.
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