Thousands Of Amazon Employees Petition For Paid Time Off To Vote

KEY POINTS

Nearly 4,000 Amazon workers signed an internal proposal
The petition asks the company to give all of its workers paid time off to vote
Amazon has over 600,000 workers in the U.S.

Thousands of Amazon employees signed an internal petition asking the company to give all its workers paid time off to vote.

The petition urges the e-commerce giant to provide its entire U.S. workforce, including those in its warehouses, with a paid day off to vote on or before Election Day.

“Voting during the pandemic means hourslong lines and confusion over where and how to vote,” the internal proposal said, noted the New York Times. “Amazon has an opportunity to raise the bar and help ensure that every Amazon worker’s vote will be counted.”

As of Tuesday evening, nearly 4,000 tech and corporate employees have signed the petition submitted via Amazon’s internal ticketing system.

Amazon has more than 876,000 employees worldwide, with 600,000 workers in the U.S. alone. Company spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said workers living in states with in-person voting could request time off at the start or the end of their shifts. The number of hours they can request and whether it is paid depends on state law.

Many states require workers to be excused and paid for a few hours if voting coincides with their work schedules. However, several battleground states do not require employers to provide paid day off for elections.

According to CNBC, several companies, including Facebook, Uber and Starbucks, have given their employees time off to vote. Amazon employees who signed onto the proposal accused Amazon of being “below the bar on the issue.”

Employees also voiced concern that the pandemic will create more difficulties for employees who may need to wait for hours in long lines at polling sites. This has been seen at polling sites in states where early voting has begun.

“We are less than a month away from the 2020 U.S. election,” the petition read. “I strongly urge the company to provide the entire U.S. employee workforce with a paid day/shift off that can be used anytime between now and Election Day on November 3. This additional paid day/shift must be available to all employees every year.”