Outside an Amazon fulfillment facility in Kenosha on Monday, state lawmakers and union leaders accused the company of trying to limit warehouse workers to just 30 minutes off to vote on Election Day, far short of the three hours Wisconsin law guarantees. The news conference came a day before polls open Tuesday, November 3, and followed months of back-and-forth between an Amazon employee, state Rep. Angelina Cruz and the Wisconsin Elections Commission over what the company was telling its Kenosha workforce.
According to Urban Milwaukee, the dispute traces back to August, when an Amazon employee contacted Cruz, a state representative for Racine, after reportedly being told the company would no longer provide the standard three hours of excused time on Election Day upon request. The employee, who was scheduled to work until 5:30 p.m. on Election Day with polls closing at 8 p.m., was instead offered just 30 minutes off at the end of the shift, the outlet reported. Cruz said she initially did not believe the account could be true when she first heard it, according to her interview with the same outlet.
Cruz said the Amazon policy counted employees' personal time off toward their legally required voting leave and did not account for commute time or family and child care obligations, Urban Milwaukee reported. She did not identify the employee in her letter to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, citing fear of retaliation, and sent that letter on August 24 regarding the constituent complaint, per the outlet's reporting.
State Agency Weighs In
The Wisconsin Elections Commission issued a formal advisory opinion on September 9 affirming employees' right to up to three hours away from work to vote, according to a WisPolitics release. The commission's opinion, as quoted in that release, states that simply ensuring an employee has three hours between the end of a shift and the 8 p.m. poll closing “is inconsistent with Wis. Stat. 6.76(1).” Wisconsin Statute § 6.76 itself says any eligible voter is entitled to be absent from work while polls are open for up to three successive hours to vote, though the elector must notify the employer before Election Day.
State Rep. Tip McGuire, who represents Kenosha, said Amazon representatives initially believed the company complied with state law, but that the commission's advisory opinion indicated the company probably did not, Urban Milwaukee reported. McGuire encouraged voters at the news conference to support candidates who oppose the power of big tech and corporations, per the outlet.
Amazon Says It Reversed the Policy
Cruz said Amazon ultimately restored workers' right to up to three hours off to vote, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said the company agreed to text every Wisconsin employee about that right and provide additional facility information, according to Urban Milwaukee's reporting. Amazon has said Wisconsin employees may take up to three consecutive hours off to vote while polls are open on Election Day and that it complies with applicable laws where it operates, the outlet reported. The company had not identified when the three-hour policy was implemented and had not stated whether it would notify workers of their voting leave rights on Tuesday, per the same report.
Amazon spokesperson Montana MacLachlan said in a statement to Urban Milwaukee that the company encourages eligible employees to vote and offers time-off and scheduling options. Still, Cruz said the coalition had called on Amazon to rescind the restrictive policy altogether, and she criticized the company's broader effect on workers' wages and voting rights, according to the outlet.
Union and Local Leaders Join the Call
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said Amazon needed to inform workers that they could vote during their shifts the following day, calling the voting policy wrong, Urban Milwaukee reported. Teamsters Local 344 President Kevin Schwerdtfeger said Amazon's reported disregard for the law did not surprise the union, according to the outlet.
The coalition at the Kenosha news conference, which included Cruz, McGuire, the group MASH and Teamsters Local 344, called on Amazon to ensure workers knew they could take time off Tuesday to vote in the midterm election. Peter Rickman, president of MASH, said Jeff Bezos and other billionaire oligarchs sought to rig democracy and exploit working people, and that workers might elect governments in Madison or Washington, D.C. that challenge big tech and concentrated corporate power, per Urban Milwaukee's reporting. Rickman also said organized Kenosha Amazon employees would have had a contract guaranteeing workplace rights had the company finalized one, referencing Amazon's refusal to finalize a contract with Chicago workers who organized four years earlier, in 2022.
Striking Amazon workers from Chicago traveled to the Kenosha facility Monday to show solidarity, the outlet reported. Congressional candidate Mitchell Berman also appeared at the event, according to Urban Milwaukee's account.
A Pattern Beyond Wisconsin
Fights over paid or protected time off to vote are not new at Amazon. Ahead of the 2020 election, more than 4,000 employees had signed an internal petition urging the company to give its entire U.S. workforce paid time off to vote, according to a CNBC report from that year. The same report noted that companies including Facebook, Apple, Uber, Twitter, Starbucks and Walmart had given employees time off to vote that cycle. Under Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development guidance, employees must notify employers before Election Day of an intended absence, and it is the employer who decides what time of day the employee is excused to vote.
