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Amazon Is Raising Some Workers' Pay Further, Adding Bonuses After Controversy (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the can't-please-everyone dept.

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."

9 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. $3k !!!!! by rfengr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $3k bonus after 20 years! Woot! That’ll pay for the knee replacements!

    1. Re:$3k !!!!! by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Insightful
      This just shows the problem with creating a really high minimum wage. Everyone who was already making that amount will want a raise, too. If half your employees already make $15/hr, and half make the actual minimum ($7 something), then giving half your employees a raise to $15/hr will only make the other half unhappy.

      "I had to work here 10 years to get up to $15/hr. Now they're paying newbs who walk in the door on day 1 the same amount I'm making after ten years ... how unfair is that?"

      And complaining that they get a $3000 bonus after working ten years, oh my, how unfair is that! Paying for knee replacements is a health insurance issue. Worker's comp in many places. Worker's Comp in Oregon is so much better than health insurance because there is no deductable and no "in network" for care. You get a bill for a service for a worker's comp claim you send it to SAIF and they pay it. You have to drive 60 miles to see a specialist? You submit a milage claim and they pay it.) When I got my last worker's comp claim approved, they sent me a stack of reimbursement forms preprinted with my info, all I have to do is fill in the amounts and mail them back.

      I hope Amazon loves the results of their social experiment. It will only prove to them how over-employeed they are and push for even more automation, like the Japanese warehouse that cut its employees by 90% after automating.

    2. Re:$3k !!!!! by skam240 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "This just shows the problem with creating a really high minimum wage. Everyone who was already making that amount will want a raise, too."

      It's only a problem in the immediate context and really it's only a problem because clearly employees were being under paid, thus Amazon's raising their internal minimum wage. If employees were paid properly so this sudden adjustment didn't need to be made this wouldn't be a problem.

      "I hope Amazon loves the results of their social experiment. It will only prove to them how over-employed they are and push for even more automation, like the Japanese warehouse that cut its employees by 90% after automating."

      Of course Amazon's big problem right now is a labor shortage due to low unemployment. Make no mistake, this wage change has absolutely nothing to do with altruism, it has everything to do with making themselves competitive at their lowest levels with McDonald's.

      --
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  2. Re:Clear solution by plopez · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Give billionares huge tax cuts and they'll still whine about poor and oppressed they are.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  3. Re: Wish they would do something about engineer... by registrations_suck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They must like it since they donâ(TM)t go elsewhere.

  4. Re: Wish they would do something about engineer... by registrations_suck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sounds like he is full of shit.

  5. Re:Clear solution by saloomy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  6. Re:$1.25/hr raise! by cyn1c77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh hold me back! /s

    That's an 8% raise for someone earning $15 an hour. Would you not like an 8% raise?

  7. Empirically Need Unions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.