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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."
Give them all $50/hr, and watch them CONTINUE to bitch, about how their taxes increase or whatever else.
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+
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.
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!
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.
... "Congratulations, peons!!! Your terms and conditions have just been upgraded from abject slavery to indentured servitude!"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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..."
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.
Sure. But your taxes are so much higher, so your money can be used to buy shit for other people. No thanks.
See also, A Nobel Prize-winning physicist sold his medal for $765,000 to pay medical bills
Only in America.