Jeff Bezos refuses Bernie Sanders invitation to attend Senate hearing

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declined a request to discuss income inequality issues before the Senate Budget Committee, the company confirmed to CNBC.

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, had invited Bezos to appear before the committee as part of a hearing on income inequality scheduled for March 17.

Bezos has been criticized by Sanders and other lawmakers for his working practices during the coronavirus pandemic, including the end of the risk premium for frontline workers, while Amazon was one of the biggest beneficiaries the e-commerce boom fueled by the pandemic.

“I invited Jeff Bezos to testify at the Budget Committee next week to explain to the American people why he thinks it is appropriate for him to spend a lot of money to deny the economic dignity of Amazon workers, when ‘he got $ 78 billion richer during the pandemic,’ Sanders wrote in a tweet.

The hearing, titled “America’s Wealth and Income Inequality Crisis,” will also include testimony from Jennifer Bates, an Amazon warehouse worker in Bessemer, Alabama, where employees are in the midst of a closely watched union vote.

Sanders is a frequent Amazon critic and previously screened the company for the pay gap between its top executives and the workers who choose, pack and deliver packages to customers. Following criticism from Sanders and other labor activists, Amazon announced in 2018 that it would increase its minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that the company supports Sanders’ efforts to raise the federal minimum wage. “We fully endorse Senator Sanders’ efforts to reduce income inequality with legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour for all workers, as we did for ours in 2018,” said the spokesperson.

Sanders also expressed support for workers at Amazon’s Bessemer plant who are currently voting to join the retail, wholesale and department store union. The effort also received the backing of several Democratic lawmakers, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and President Joe Biden.

Amazon strongly opposed the organizing effort. Last month he held mandatory meetings with workers at the Bessemer plant to lay out the arguments against unionization. The company has also set up a website urging workers to “do it free of charge.”