Can they do the same in India?
Does Amazon have a presence in India?
Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
21–30 of 1001 posts
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#22A good object lesson in what happens if you unionize. Edit: Ooh, downvotes. Hi Amazon
I missed this story from earlier. Did they actually unionize? Or were they in the early stages of unionizing?
They haven't achieved recognition yet but they're still winning.
The Europeans (for whom there was also a pay rise) are further along and went on strike on prime day.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#23While this is a very welcome development it would be more impressive to see them reform their slave like fulfilment center work practises. Employees are forced to walk massive distances, have their every move tracked and are penalised for taking bathroom breaks. I doubt many people in Silicon Valley would consider $15 an hour a fair compensation for the oppressive work conditions.
Yet I know of many people now who work hard jobs and make 15 dollars an hour or less. Why does it matter if people in SV think it's good pay?
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did Amazon actually pay any worse or have worse working conditions than any other unskilled warehouse job? If so, why didn’t the employees change jobs? If not, why is so much criticism directed at Amazon specifically, rather than at capitalism itself?
Surely "this trillion dollar company led by the world's richest man pays its workers peanuts" is a criticism of capitalism?
You don’t think people have been criticizing Amazon specifically? I think they have.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#25partially funded by the removal of RSU stock grants
I agree with their assertion that hourly employees "prefer the predictability and immediacy of cash to RSUs." $15/hr still isn't much. $30K year. Sure, it would be nice to get a fat payday down the road. People living on low wages have much more immediate needs. Why wait for a (maybe) payout, if you can't feed your kids today?
$15/hour isn't much but it's fantastic for entry level pay. That's the minimum. Most people will be getting paid more.
And, yes, of course money today is better than maybe money tomorrow. For example, higher pay today could allow someone replace a car that keeps breaking down on them. That reliability and cost savings of not having to pay for repairs can be worth more than stocks in the future.
Edit typo
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#26The blog post says "employees". No reporter I've seen has bothered to ask if it applies to contractors.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#27I mean, they get such bad press for the way they treat their workers it only seems fair to laud them for this. Good move. They have more to do though. I've went through a few articles on this but I didn't see any of them mention what Amazon's minimum actual pay was before this, just the federal minimum wage. Anybody know?
Did Amazon actually pay any worse or have worse working conditions than any other unskilled warehouse job? If so, why didn’t the employees change jobs? If not, why is so much criticism directed at Amazon specifically, rather than at capitalism itself?
Well known target.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#28I mean, they get such bad press for the way they treat their workers it only seems fair to laud them for this. Good move. They have more to do though. I've went through a few articles on this but I didn't see any of them mention what Amazon's minimum actual pay was before this, just the federal minimum wage. Anybody know?
Did Amazon actually pay any worse or have worse working conditions than any other unskilled warehouse job? If so, why didn’t the employees change jobs? If not, why is so much criticism directed at Amazon specifically, rather than at capitalism itself?
One possibility: the economy has a surplus of people who are looking for unskilled warehouse jobs, so even if other places had better quality, it was difficult to switch.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#29Senator Bernie Sanders, for example, recently introduced legislation to end what he calls “corporate welfare” — and it’s pretty clear who he had in mind, since the bill was titled Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS). Bernie out-marketing AMZN is pretty funny.
This is hilarious. Would've never guessed Bernie had this sense of humor.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#30I mean, they get such bad press for the way they treat their workers it only seems fair to laud them for this. Good move. They have more to do though. I've went through a few articles on this but I didn't see any of them mention what Amazon's minimum actual pay was before this, just the federal minimum wage. Anybody know?
> they get such bad press for the way they treat their workers it only seems fair to laud them for this.
That's because they treat their workers terrible. They're a huge company with a lot of profit and how people at the bottom of the chain are treated is maddening. They're seen as an example of how not to treat workers (and for good reason).
They definitely should not be lauded for this: They did some calculations and projections which showed that raising the minimum wage brings more benefits (PR stunt, not being the target of new legislation anymore, etc) than downsides (now having to pay X more to some people).
I refuse to believe Bezos woke up this morning with a new moral sense to change the ship around.