Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos announced the company is raising its minimum wage to $15 beginning NOVEMBER 1, 2018.
This impacts 250,000 + of the company’s employees, including workers at Whole Foods Market, which Amazon acquired for $13.7 billion last year. Amazon said the new minimum wage also will apply to seasonal workers, which can be more than 100,000 for this holiday season.
Amazon has 575,000+ employees worldwide, including more than 40,000 at its Seattle headquarters. Amazon is preparing to announce plans the location of its $5 billion second headquarters, where it will ultimately employ up to 50,000 people.
Not all Amazon employees are happy with their wages increasing to $15 an hour because Amazon is phasing out stock options and monthly bonuses for its warehouse workers at the same time. The company is phasing out the RSU (restricted stock units) program which was granted not purchased that would vest in 2020 and 2021 and they are replacing it with a direct stock purchase plan before the end of 2019.
Amazon is also getting rid of monthly incentive bonuses for warehouse workers. These changes will give higher cash compensation with expected amounts in their paychecks.
“We make less than we did before if you subtract our bonus pay and stock,” said one Twitter user, claiming to work for an Amazon warehouse in Indianapolis.
Another Amazon warehouse worker, Vicki Shannon Allen, called the changes “a joke” in an interview with NBC News.
“Rather than receiving the raise they deserve, many Amazon warehouse workers will now see lower pay,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, in a statement. “That’s not just disappointing, it’s wrong.”
An Amazon spokesperson said that the wage increase for a warehouse worker “more than compensates for the phase out of incentive pay and RSUs.” Amazon says that all workers in its fulfillment centers will see an increase in their total compensation. Workers who already receive more than $15 per hour will receive raises of $1 per hour.
Despite the criticism, the response to Amazon’s minimum wage hike has largely been positive. Before the announcement, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation that would tax Amazon to cover the cost of government assistance Amazon workers receive. After publicly criticizing Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos for weeks, Sanders applauded the decision to raise wages.
“Today I want to give credit where credit is due and I want to congratulate Mr. Bezos on doing exactly the right thing,” Sanders said in a statement Tuesday.
Sources: CNN, GeekWire, Yahoo News
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