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Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, has challenged the US retail giants to match the recent increase in his company to a minimum wage of $ 15 (NZ $ 23.78) ) the hour.
"Do it! Better yet, go to $ 16 and launch us the glove," wrote Bezos in his annual letter to shareholders on Wednesday (Thursday, local time). "It's a kind of competition that will benefit everyone."
The taunt comes from a company that itself is under a lot of pressure to improve working conditions around the world. When Amazon is committed in October to raise pay to at least US $ 15 in the US, the eCommerce giant has also eliminated monthly bonuses and stock awards.
In a tight US labor market, Walmart and Target big box retailers have also increased their wages and benefits.
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"We are finally seeing the beauty of narrow labor markets," said Dave Cooper, senior badyst at the Economic Policy Institute, an American think tank. "And if they can force their competitors to pay more, these are extra dollars that workers will spend."
A disadvantage is that Amazon's workforce mainly works in distribution centers, which typically pay more than the stores because of the more demanding physical nature of these roles, according to Charles Allen, an badyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Wholesaling employees, who represent distribution centers, earn about $ 31 an hour, or 61 percent more than hourly retail pay, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs at Walmart, said in a tweet that "the vast majority" of the company's warehouse workers were earning over 15 US dollars at the time "for a long time".
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