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By raising her standard salary to $ 15 by the hour, Amazon has turned an enemy – Senator Bernie Sanders – into a friend and acquired what could be a powerful new weapon.
Amazon's statements regarding the bearings indicate that she wants to position the movement as a moral gesture.
"We listened to our critics, thought about what we wanted to do and decided to lead," said CEO Jeff Bezos in a statement. "We are excited about this change and are encouraging our competitors and other major employers to join us."
The new salary standard will come into effect on November 1 st.
At the same time, Amazon is trying to force other retailers to follow by asking its lobby group to start advocating for a minimum wage increase by the federal government, up to $ 15 a year. time at the present time.
"We will strive to get congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage, and the current rate of $ 7.25 was set almost a decade ago," said Jay Carney global business of Amazon in a statement. "We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across the country."
Amazon is also positioning this lobbying effort as moral, but this may not be the only reason why the e-commerce giant would be encouraged to do so. A national minimum wage of $ 15 an hour would require all competitors of the distribution company to pay the workers from their stores at least at this amount.
In this way, Amazon could be a "weapons-making" policy, according to economist Michael Farren of the right-wing think-tank The Mercatus Center, which is generally opposed to government regulation.
"When Amazon tries to force others, through its lobbying efforts, to compete for a competitive advantage, it is at that point that you have adopted a policy or regulation that is theoretically in the future." "It's a public interest that you have armed to make it a private interest," Farren told Business Insider.
Shop workers already tend to earn less than average warehouse workers. It was theoretically cheaper for Amazon to spend $ 15 on employees than if Walmart increased all store employees to $ 15.
Large chain stores like Walmart and Target are already increasing their salaries, but not at the $ 15 USD target offered by Amazon. Competition for low-wage workers has become more fierce in recent years, as the US labor market has become more competitive, triggering a "talent war".
In addition, a new federal minimum wage would force Walmart to divert its resources from developing new innovations to compete with Amazon, Farren said.
In addition, Amazon's technological incursions into automation are more advanced than its competitors, he said. A higher minimum wage may not even affect Amazon in the long run.
"Amazon's business model is based on constant innovation," said Farren. "That's one of the reasons why they are so scary for other industries.The more they automate their production process, the lower a higher federal minimum wage would hurt Amazon."
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