General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Amazon Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15
Thus, Amazon’s official explanation is, ostensibly, “Bernie Sanders (and our striking workers, and the Whole Foods employees who’ve been trying to unionize, and their allies in the liberal media) made us do it.”
........................................................................................
That said, it’s a little hard to believe that Sanders bill — and the broader organizing among Amazon workers that inspired it — forced Bezos to make a change that he had no other reason to implement. Amazon has not been paralyzed by any extended, nationwide strikes. Sanders’s bill never had any plausible path to becoming law. The pressure they brought to bear might have been necessary to trigger the wage hike, but it probably wasn’t sufficient.
......................................................................
There’s reason to think labor market conditions influenced Bezos’s calculus. With the unemployment rate sitting below 4 percent, and the holiday season on the horizon, U.S. retailers are in fierce competition for staff. Amazon plans to hire 100,000 seasonal employees — as does UPS, while FedEx is looking for 55,000. Meanwhile, Amazon’s retail competitors have been lifting their starting wages — with Target’s recently rising to $15, Costco’s to $14, and Walmart’s to $11.
Still, it’s unlikely that market conditions required Bezos to establish a $15, nationwide wage floor for every type of Amazon worker. The average wage for retail salespeople in the U.S. is currently $13.20 (which means that a great number of such workers earn far less than that).
.......................................................................
All this said: Even if his own mercenary interests played bigger a role in Bezos’s decision than his own statement suggests, that doesn’t mean that Amazon’s workers and critics weren’t instrumental in today’s good news. Corporations do not automatically (or even usually) sacrifice short-term profitability to their own enlightened, long-term financial interest. If bidding up wages across the retail sector makes business sense for Amazon today, then it made sense for the company a year ago. In between, the company’s workers and their political allies raised the costs of a low-wage business model. Now, they’ve earned themselves a higher paycheck.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/10/why-amazon-raised-minimum-wage-to-15-dollars-jeff-bezos-act-bernie-sanders.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
violetpastille
(1,483 posts)People can buy more shit on Amazon. It's net-net for Bezos.
But I'm happy as hell for those now making a living wage.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)
joshcryer
(62,536 posts)Amazon is dominate for a reason.
MANative
(4,188 posts)I think they were BLEEDING employees because of low pay and that they were having a great deal of difficulty consistently staffing operations. My guess is that their recruiting and hiring costs are through the roof and this is one way to minimize that impact, at least for the intermediate term. Wouldn't surprise me to see them cut some HR staff.
marlakay
(13,327 posts)A large honda dealership. For years the owner forced her to pay her employees less than the other car places nearby causing her to constantly lose people after they were trained. The other dealerships got a great deal too, fully trained new employees.
That was when she was new manager and afraid to speak up, finally she told owner we have to pay more and he let her go up but still not enough but as time has gone by she doesn’t even ask him anymore she just gives the raises or hires at better pay.
The employees are staying now and she isn’t spending all her time training.
MANative
(4,188 posts)It's basic HR blocking and tackling. You can't run a business effectively if you're always in recruiting/training mode. At some point, you have to work with a baseline to make progress.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)
And by the way, that old myth of Fordism is stil alive today, even though it's complette utter BS.
benld74
(10,288 posts)Workers at “America’s healthiest grocery store” say management is trying to cut jobs and reduce wages as they reshape the 38-year-old grocery chain in Amazon’s image.
“They’re squeezing all they can out of the workers. Amazon gives little notice whenever they make changes. When they rolled in the Amazon Prime discount, they only gave stores ten to fourteen days of notice and no extra labor to handle the extra work.”
n 6 September, a group of workers sent out a letter to Whole Foods stores across the country reaching out to fellow employees to discuss concerns with how Amazon has changed the company as part of the Whole Worker community.
They cited the “order-to-shelf system”, which began three years ago and has accelerated under Amazon, and mass layoffs of certain positions as some of the primary reasons Whole Foods workers are now coordinating efforts to unionize.
Gothmog
(180,646 posts)4% unemployment is the reason for this raise and not sanders bill. The article cited in the OP makes sense on this
JCanete
(5,272 posts)4% employment number is that relevant. Hell, people working doordash and Uber are considered employed, and Uber salaries are calculated at netting about 3.20 an hour nationally. You can do a lot worse than what Amazon pays now, which is still shit.
I doubt that Companies were going to struggle significantly to fill positions, but certainly as others have felt pressure to raise pay, the competition has had to follow...just don't pretend those companies did it in a vacuum of pressure and pr value.
here you go...right at the end of the article you agree with...
All this said: Even if his own mercenary interests played bigger a role in Bezos’s decision than his own statement suggests, that doesn’t mean that Amazon’s workers and critics weren’t instrumental in today’s good news. Corporations do not automatically (or even usually) sacrifice short-term profitability to their own enlightened, long-term financial interest. If bidding up wages across the retail sector makes business sense for Amazon today, then it made sense for the company a year ago. In between, the company’s workers and their political allies raised the costs of a low-wage business model. Now, they’ve earned themselves a higher paycheck.
malthaussen
(18,593 posts)If they wanted to lead, they would have done it years ago.
-- Mal
FakeNoose
(41,936 posts)I wouldn't be surprised, he's still a young-ish guy and he's already conquered a lot of his life's goals.
He could be thinking about heading off some bad PR about employee wages. It doesn't cost him much to do that either.
Liberalhammer
(576 posts)I stopped Amazon the beginning of this year for 3 reasons.
1. The effect on brick and mortar stores.
2. How they treated their employees.
3. The horrible Amazon store card that is usery
I think consumer backlash against them is larger than we think, and I do not like their power over the economy or their reach.
Cha
(319,560 posts)
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)It's definitely NOT for the reasons that others are boasting about.
Cha
(319,560 posts)
Tarheel_Dem
(31,454 posts) Cha
(319,560 posts) 
JHan
(10,173 posts)I'm just amazed now narratives change, a few years ago the idea of letting businesses adjust their own salaries without government intervention, or self-regulation, was frowned on as neo-liberal shenanigans.
Starry Messenger
(32,382 posts)They started this movement.
