Amazon workers walked out of a Shakopee warehouse Friday night, seeking higher wages and time off for Eid, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
Shakopee Amazon workers walk out to demand higher pay, time off for Eid
The Muslim holiday is celebrated with a feast to break monthlong fasting.
May 1, 2022 at 6:22PM
In a video shared by the Awood Center, a Minneapolis organization supporting East African communities, a crowd gathered outside the 885,000-square-foot warehouse with signage to express their demands.
"Imagine if you worked on Christmas and Amazon forced you to. You couldn't see your families, you couldn't spend time with them. That would be ridiculous. No one would like that," said worker Tyler Hamilton, of Maplewood. "Amazon is doing that with Eid right now and they get away with it just like they got away with lowering our pay."
Hamilton called for a $3 hourly wage increase to keep up with the cost of inflation and housing.
Eid begins Sunday evening and ends Monday evening. It's celebrated with a feast to break a holy month of fasting from sunup to sundown throughout Ramadan.
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In 2019, some workers at the Shakopee warehouse went on strike over poor working conditions. The handful of protesters walked off the job in the middle of their shifts that they say are too fast-paced and lead to injury. Awood Center organized the demonstration.
The Birds Eye plant recruited workers without providing all the job details Minnesota law requires.
