A 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?
Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
11–20 of 1001 posts
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#12I 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?
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/9kpeal/amazon_raises_...
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#13They must have automated enough, or shifted enough work to contractors that this is now materially not a big deal.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#14Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#15I 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?
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?
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#16partially funded by the removal of RSU stock grants
$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?
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#17I'm going to take a wild guess and assume it will be $15/hour. That way they'll get to look progressive for adopting this wage early, while mitigating their competitive disadvantage by forcing every other company to raise their wages too eventually.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#18They must have automated enough, or shifted enough work to contractors that this is now materially not a big deal.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#19I 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?
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#20While 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.
It's forcing people who might not be in the best of shape to be bending over, reaching, lifting, etc, etc all day that results in health problems.