Amid criticism of its treatment of its warehouse workers, Amazon has announced that it’s raising the minimum wage that it pays to its workers in the United States. The company will now be paying all of its U.S. employees a minimum wage of $15 per hour starting November 1st. This will apply to all of the company’s 250,000 full and part time workers in addition to the 100,000 seasonal workers it hires to cope with the busy holiday season.
Amazon also says that it’s going to lobby for an increase in the federal minimum wage which is $7.25 per hour right now. Amazon has also clarified that it’s going to pay the $15 minimum wage to all employees without needing them to hit any targets.
There’s also going to be an unspecified wage increase for those operations and customer service employees that are already making $15 an hour. “We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement, adding that “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”
Amazon is making a similar change overseas. It will be paying a minimum wage of £9.50 in the United Kingdom compared to £8.50 previously. Employees in the more expensive London area will get £10.50 instead of the previous hourly wage of £8.50.
Filed in . Read more about Amazon. Source: blog.aboutamazon