The blog post says "employees". No reporter I've seen has bothered to ask if it applies to contractors.
Wouldn't contractors set their own rates?
Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
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Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#42I 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?
I don't know why you're down voted. People like to shame Amazon/Walmart for their wages and working conditions, but I guarantee they're doing a lot of the exact same things as other companies who are less criticized, Target, Meijer, etc..
Like he said, Amazon has it's issues but the employees were free to quit and work at other similar positions in similar companies.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#43With almost a million employees the decisions by Amazon are impacting a large part of the (150 million) US workforce.
The dysfunction in our government is rising at a time that corporations are growing bigger than ever.
The obvious result is that companies like Amazon will have an outsized effect on the major issues for our society, like minimum wage and healthcare.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#44It makes you think of Henry Ford.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#45The blog post says "employees". No reporter I've seen has bothered to ask if it applies to contractors.
Yes, excellent point.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#46I 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 a…
That's why any company treats any of their employees well. Google isn't giving their employees all these perks out of the goodness of their heart. They give them to attract the best talent to make the most money. Amazon is doing the same thing.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#47Opponents of the minimum wage argue that it reduces employment by creating an artificial floor on wages, that jobs are lost because employers can't afford to pay the minimum. But if you can't pay the minimum, then you didn't really have a job to offer in the first place!
By extension of this logic, employers could argue that they are losing jobs because they can only afford to pay someone who will work 12 hours a day, or can only afford to pay child workers, or can only afford to hire if they get a huge payroll tax cut. Granted, in the job market there are people who would take sub-minimum wage pay for a variety of reasons -- desperation, lack of education, lack of options near their home, felony record, undocumented status, etc. But it is disingenuous to suggest that just because there are people who would take such jobs, that our economy should allow employers to get away with it.
If you can't pay a basic living wage, for fair hours, in safe conditions, with necessary medical benefits, then you don't have a job to offer.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#48A good object lesson in what happens if you unionize. Edit: Ooh, downvotes. Hi Amazon
I don't know if that's still the case; I've seen instances where e.g. voice actors were replaced by non-unionized competitors. If the jobs shortage is big enough, people will allow themselves to get fucked over by not joining the unions and agreeing to working below the rate unionized employees have all fought for. Because any pay is better than no pay. Right?
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#49While 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.
I would argue that the majority of the warehouse staff would opt for the increased wage they just received over shorter walking distances.
Re: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees
#50While 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?
don't you know? Californian engineers are the arbiters of truth.