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Amazon Is Raising Some Workers' Pay Further, Adding Bonuses After Controversy (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Amazon is sweetening the pay for some of its longtime warehouse workers after employees criticized the loss of bonuses and stock awards as part of the company's pledge to boost all wages to at least $15 an hour. The world's largest online retailer grabbed headlines last week with its minimum-pay pledge -- followed by concerns from veteran workers who feared their compensation would actually decline because the company also eliminated bonuses and stock awards. Amazon said any workers already earning $15 would get raises of $1 per hour. Now, some of those employees are learning their hourly raises will actually be $1.25 an hour. Additionally, Amazon is introducing a new cash bonus of $1,500 to $3,000 for tenure milestones at five, 10, 15 and 20 years. Workers with good attendance in the month of December will also get a $100 bonus, according to the company. "All hourly Operations and Customer Service employees will see an increase in their total compensation as a result of this announcement," Amazon said in a statement. "The significant increase in hourly cash wages effective Nov. 1 more than compensates for the phase out of incentive pay and future (stock) grants."
pay and benefits. Most of my friends here in Seattle work for Amazon, and they make less than market, are expected to work 60+ hours a week, be on call 24/7, and aren't allowed vacation time unless they're from Asia.
$3k bonus after 20 years! Woot! That’ll pay for the knee replacements!
Oh hold me back! /s
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Give billionares huge tax cuts and they'll still whine about poor and oppressed they are.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Where? How much?
In other words, Amazon probably spent a year in management meetings, calculating benefits, updating training materials and policies, etc... when finally deciding on $15. Then some workers and the media complained and a week later they change it again. Seems like they skipped the worker feedback section when initially trying to decide what to do. Either that or their management are complete wimps and can be completely blown over with the slightest amount of bad PR. Or perhaps they had this plan first, then reduced it a bit to see if they'd get away with it. When the PR backlash came, they can now claim doubly-so that they're updating to reflect the best wishes of the workers and the workers will be extra glad since they think they got something extra. When in reality Amazon gets a triple-win and the workers get tricked.
If you are a super mega company like Amazon why wouldn't you want to put the name on your delivery vans? The van could say something like...Amazon.
Just an idea.
That sounds excellent for their employees. How about for once, we give Amazon some credit for this.
There will probably be many opportunities to excoriate Amazon in the future. Let's see.
it's a tactic management has used for decades to excuse poor pay. You keep a few better paid employees because it keeps everybody from organizing and demanding better pay. I saw this in the call centers in the late 90s/early 00s. Management would tell the existing employees how lucky they were because they started at $10/hr when the new guys started at $7. Nevermind that $10/hr wasn't enough to get by even back then.
Also before everyone piles in with the old "if you raise wages prices go up" nonsense, if that were true humanity could never progress as a species. We'd still be subsistence farmers and the big mac index wouldn't be a thing. Prices go up slower than wages when productivity goes up faster than wages. And productivity has been raising pretty much non stop if you focus on raw output (yes, an increasing number of low wage service employees replacing high paying manufacturing jobs means that measured productivity growth across the entire economy is flat, but we're still making more real goods with less people, see here).
Basically so long as you're making more stuff with less or even the same people you can raise wages without price inflation, because that's real wage growth. e.g. there's more stuff for everybody. Well, not since 2008 though. Since 2008 the more stuff part of the equation has gone to the top 1%....
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you mean boni?
Shithole. BIGLY.
Your sig says "debt is slavery". Are you suggesting those that accumulated debt are putting people into slavery? No one asked them to sign up for credit cards, car loans, home loans, or anything else. Slavery means "without consent". When you apply, sign, and shop, you consented.
"No one asked them to sign up for credit cards, car loans, home loans, or anything else."
What rock have you been living under? I get unsolicited offers from usurers all the time.
Our economy is structured so that home ownership requires submitting to usury. Our tax laws penalize anyone who does not submit to large scale usury. Travel is vastly more difficult for those few upright souls who refuse usurious credit cards.
Maybe it's time for a Palintokia?
I think the clear solution was in the post before this one. Robots don't care about pay rises, stock options, bonuses or overtime rates.
Cause and effect, no unions in Amazon is like a person without an immune system. This is just anti-biotic shot that is for PR stunt.
Now vote for the Democrats like good slaves!
Travel is vastly more difficult for those few upright souls who refuse usurious credit cards.
Thanks for telling me this—And here I thought I was getting along just fine, since I don't even have a credit card and my debit card has worked without issues for me in every country I've ever visited (about 30 of those, last time I bothered to count). Silly me!
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
See what happens to your 'credit' score if you don't use debt, then try to rent an apartment. Not ven buy a house. Or even get a job in some cases. We're enslaved by debt. and punished for not having it. Oh sure, you could avoid it if you dropped out of the system, lived under a bridge, had your kids taken away by the state, etc. But yeah, it's voluntary. Most of us are wage slaves. Many of us here are house negroes, though, and get treated better than mist be the master, and therefore reject the wage slave label. They even take money our of your check before yiou even see it. They take your taxes before you have the chance to spend it in a tax deductible manner? So, your forced to work at leadt a few months each year for the master, without compensation, against your will, and your only alternative is homelessness and poverty.
Yeah, your not a slave.
No wait, this is the internet. You own your own multi-national company, make billions, and every night you drill your hot, 10+ supermodel wife with your 19" cock.
So you're no slave, but everyone else ...
I'm happy to hear you have had better experience with debit cards than have I and my friends.
The biggest travel issue was rental cars. It seems that all airport rental car companies (in the US at least) really strongly prefer a credit card. They are usually willing to rent to debit card holders, but only on the condition of withdrawing a multi-thousand dollar deposit from the renter's bank account.
I've also heard stories about people having difficulty renting hotel rooms (again in the US) with a debit card - however I have not personally experienced that.
Sounds like someone wants to run for president in 2020 and has been told that screwing his employees over for years is a negative.
Someone has to lose. The middle class loses buying power when you increase the minimum wage. For everyone you"help", someone loses. Guess what... It doesn't help the minimum wage earners either. Everything becomes more expensive. I'd really have to do the math on this, but believe that it helps the rich.
$100.......That is kind of weak.
I remember most people in Brazil when I was there 30 years ago seemed to get an extra paycheck during the holidays. It was the way people could have a little extra during a special time and helped families avoid the financial strain at the end of the year.
Made it easy to pay of debts, get presents, have money for visiting family.
I always found that system to be a great way to help with the spirit of people at the end of the year.
I've used my Swedish bank card in the US many times to rent vehicles and rooms. It has a Visa card number but it's a debit card. Never had it turned down by any business that accepts Visa cards.
I have run into a few places in China (locally-owned shops or China-only businesses) that take only UnionPay cards or cash, but ATMs are plentiful and I've never had any trouble with those.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
... "Congratulations, peons!!! Your terms and conditions have just been upgraded from abject slavery to indentured servitude!"
I am happy for you that you are rich. Most people don't have the necessary funds to pay cash for everything. I can't afford a house without borrowing, or purchase a decent car without borrowing. Also, here in the US, if you don't have credit you will have a low credit score, and guess what? Employers will rather not hire you if you have low credit score. So, the idea of choice starts to become a little more blurry. Sure, you are not physically kidnapped and chained, but I can't just decide to quit either.
Your sig says "debt is slavery". Are you suggesting those that accumulated debt are putting people into slavery? No one asked them to sign up for credit cards, car loans, home loans, or anything else. Slavery means "without consent". When you apply, sign, and shop, you consented.
Under the Federal Reserve system, all money is lent into existence. Every American dollar represents a debt owed back to the Federal Reserve. A few people manage to have no debt, but that just shifts the debt burden onto other people.
You and I have little choice but to participate in this system. Signing up for home, business or car loans is essentially required. In order to participate in capitalism you need capital. For the vast majority that means borrowing it from a bank or someone with a lot of money. So yes, we are forced into a system based on debt without our consent (or perhaps with coerced consent), and must work to pay that debt. The term slavery is a bit stark, but its not far off when you look at how the monetary system actually operates.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Ezra, you've had good attendance. I bet you thought I'd forgotten your Christmas bonus. Here you go!
Ezra: "A hundred dollars. Maybe I'll go to the movies... by myself..."
No it isn't. Even if you have a credit card with a 25% interest rate, you still get a grace period before interest is due and you can pay it off and owe NO interest whatsoever. Nothing usurious about that.
Even so, you can also just as easily use a DEBIT card, avoiding the issue of borrowing money altogether.
One small correction here: we're not enslaved by debt in the sense that you're talking about, we're enslaved by credit. It's entirely possible to have good credit while not being in debt, slavery notwithstanding.
Not all CCs offer a grace period.
Just to be clear, it is commercial banks that do the majority of this lending and monetary creation.
It's entirely possible to have good credit while not being in debt
Uh....no. To get a high FICO score, you're going to have to be in debt to somebody.
Just having a credit card that you pay off every month doesn't help, because a component of your FICO score is the mix of your credit accounts. If you don't have something like a mortgage or car loan, it is going to hurt your score.
Rich? Hardly. I merely have reliable income and a very clear set of priorities. 90% of my travel relates to family, BTW—neither my wife nor I are natives of Sweden, Europe, or even the same country.
And we were talking about *credit cards*, which absolutely no-one ever uses to buy a *house*, FFS. I have a mortgage just like 90% of homeowners in Western countries do.
And I've ~20 years experience in my field, the last 15 of them split between three of the biggest names in the industry, and I'm the author or co-author of about a dozen books on the subject. Anyone who thinks my credit score or lack thereof has any bearing on my qualifications is somebody I don't need to work for.
Once I was in a situation that I suspect wasn't too different from yours. I escaped it by educating myself, setting very definite (but flexible) goals for myself, watching and jumping on every opportunity that arose to further myself towards those goals, and not resting until they were achieved. No reason you can't do something similar. Good luck!
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I don't know how people are not seeing what Amazon has truly done here:
amazon has the most automation out of any company dealing in the retail space (fulfillment centers, go stores)
Automation systems are a huge capital expense and barrier of entry (Only the biggest can afford it and out of the big retailers the only ones not struggling are Target and Walmart who both have high employee costs as they lack automation.
Amazon champions for better pay , get all sorts of publicity which ultimately ends up as free advertising (generate new customers)
Amazon cuts existing workers benefit packages to increase wages (so really it was a 0 sum game nothing was gained and Amazon lost nothing)
Amazon is heralded as the company that pushed for higher wages (positive spin as the news media would have you believe)
In reality Amazon just forced every single competitors most expensive operating cost (employee wages) to go up exponentially depending on the size of the competitor while they insulated themselves by robbing Peter to pay Paul. Add to this that they buy in such huge volume the only possibility of competing with them was by having lower operating costs which this move has now eliminated advantage and with Amazon's increasing automation without a huge capital investment in equal automation or better no one will be able to compete against them.
Just to be clear, it is commercial banks that do the majority of this lending and monetary creation.
Yes, indeed. Many of those banks are members of the Federal Reserve system, while some are not. Regardless, they are all creating money from debt, in the form of federal reserve notes, or numbers on a screen representing such notes.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
Sure. But your taxes are so much higher, so your money can be used to buy shit for other people. No thanks.
So fucking get one that does. There are THOUSANDS to choose from.
See also, A Nobel Prize-winning physicist sold his medal for $765,000 to pay medical bills
Only in America.
25% is the definition of usurious a few times over.
Try renting a car with a debit card and get back to us, snowflake.
What a sweet, elitist summer child you are. Car breaks down and you have no choice but to fix it unless you want to lose your job, followed by an eviction? Put the repair on credit. Have to go see the doctor but you have a shitty health insurance plan with a high co-pay and deductible? Put it on credit. It's not a choice when it's a matter of necessity.
You absolutely can rent a car with a debit card, they typically place a hold on around $250.00 which isn't that much. If you think its too much, you probably don't have the means to be financially responsible for damage you cause it.
Also, if you don't want debt, don't spend on credit what you can not pay off. All of my cards are at $0.00 balance every month, because that helps keep me in check. I only finance what I have to (home, auto), and the auto is at 2.9% which is just about the same as the rate of inflation, so its near 0.
You don't have to be a "slave". You can be... responsible.
A common mis-conception. Having good credit means making a payment every month (which you can't do if your balance is $0). You need to make a purchase (even just filling up gas), and then pay it down to $0. What mostly determines your score is:
A) How long your accounts have been open for and in good standing
B) Your payment history (again, you should make a payment every month, even if it's for a pack of gum).
C) Your debt to income ratio (this one is mis-understood: the less debt you have, the better! All the way down to $0)
D) Your available credit (the less balances you have, again the better).
E) Your applications for credit. You take a hit when you enquire a few times. In fact, the new FICO 9.0 score is supposed to take into consideration multiple enquiries and not have them all affect your score if its because you were shopping your loan for some large purchase around).
There. now you know.
The govornment is creating debt, thereby lending it out. It gives you the ability to spend it (though bank lending). You don't have to take out a loan. You can start from $0 and work for your money. When you earn, you can spend, invest, and save. If you save, then the bank you saved with lends that out to others. So in a sense, you can have people indebted to you, just for being financially responsible.
It's always a choice. Car broke down and costs a few hundred to fix? Too bad you just had to have the latest iPhone. Got sick and had shitty insurance? Too bad you didn't pay for better insurance.
We have such a strong safety net in this country, and are THE MOST generous nation on earth (literally, in terms of dollars donated). If you are truly poor, go to a church, or other NGO. Fill out help forms from your city, county, state, and federal programs. People will help you. For fuck's sake; start a go-fund-me page. Do something.
But don't bitch because you lived at or beyond your means and didn't save for a rainy day. That's your own damn fault.
I can't believe this guy. Be thankful your fiscal irresponsibility was mitigated by the credit system which caught your back when you needed it. Now you can get back to work, or get healthy again, and practice living on a little less so you can pay that off. When you are done with that, stay at that spending level, and save what you used to spend. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN WELLBEING.
You're so far out there you can see Pluto from your house. People like you are why gulags were invented, so you can spend a couple of decades digging ditches while rethinking your life choices.