RadioOnFire.com - In the wake of mounting criticism from politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders about its treatment of warehouse workers, Amazon announced on Tuesday morning a new $15 minimum hourly wage for all 350,000 of its U.S. employees.
The new pay threshold will go into effect Nov. 1 and impact all full-time, temporary and seasonal workers across the company’s U.S. warehouse and customer service teams as well as Whole Foods, the company said in a blog post. It did not disclose what its current minimum pay wage is for U.S. workers, perhaps in part because there is not one set rate.
“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”
Alongside the cash compensation bump, Amazon said it will eventually eliminate its practice of granting stock to these workers and will instead institute a program that allows them to purchase Amazon stock through the company.
The company claimed that “we’ve heard from our hourly fulfillment and customer service employees that they prefer the predictability and immediacy of cash to [restricted stock units]” and said that “[t]he net effect of this change and the new higher cash compensation is significantly more total compensation for employees.”
Amazon said those workers already making $15 an hour would also see a pay bump, but did not specify how much.
Source Recode
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