The CEO's call comes six months after Amazon set a $15 minimum for its own employees, after years of criticism about pay disparity.
Jeff Bezos is calling on other retailers to match Amazon’s benefits and $15 minimum wage. “Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us,” he said in his annual letter to shareholders. By Hamza Shaban Hamza Shaban Technology reporter Email Bio Follow April 11 at 9:27 AM Just five months after Amazon moved to a $15 minimum wage, chief executive Jeff Bezos has called on other retailers to match it.
“Today I challenge our top retail competitors to match our employee benefits and our $15 minimum wage,” Bezos said in a letter to shareholders filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Do it! Better yet, go to $16 and throw the gauntlet back at us. It’s a kind of competition that will benefit everyone.”
Amazon raised its starting pay in November, following criticism about its own pay practices and amid concerns among some veteran employees who said they feared being devalued. But the pay bump also coincided with cuts to employee bonuses and stock grants.“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do and decided we want to lead,” Bezos said in October.
The public debate over a higher minimum wage has intensified in recent years, with fast-food restaurants and retail stores serving as political battlegrounds. Service industry workers have engaged in direct advocacy, protests and strikes to push for unionization and higher guaranteed wages. Groups such as Fight for $15, which have pushed companies to raise starting pay, have seen some success.
Walmart, the largest U.S. private employer, announced last year it would boost its entry wage from $9 to $11 an hour. Target said it is increasing its minimum wage to $13 an hour in June, and aims to offer $15 an hour by 2020. And in a move heralded as a preliminary win by workers and labor advocates, McDonald’s recently announced it would no longer support lobbying efforts to oppose minimum-wage increases.
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