Amazon's wage increase is also a political game

After months of growing political pressure, Amazon announced Tuesday that it would almost double its minimum wage, which would rise to $ 15 an hour. It was an unexpected decision by a company that was traditionally more concerned with reducing costs. In a statement, Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, called this choice a moral choice. "We listened to our critics," said Bezos. "We thought about what we wanted to do and decided to lead."

But the moral awakening of Bezos is also a wise political decision. The increase in wages comes in the context of an unprecedented political review of the tech giants, which examination, so far, has focused on Facebook, Google and Twitter rather than on Amazon. At the same time, former employees and workers' rights advocates have spent years demanding Amazon's low wages and inhuman, increasingly influential working conditions in Washington. The technical reaction has placed Amazon in an uncomfortable political stance, and higher wages are allowing the company and Bezos to recover crucial support.

The decision was welcomed by some of Amazon's toughest critics. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have spent the last few months arguing for wage increases, a campaign that includes the introduction of Sanders' Stop BEZOS. If it was approved, this bill would punish big companies such as Amazon by imposing on them a 100% high tax on any help their employees would receive from the federal government.

Despite months of criticism from Sanders and his discussions with the company about working conditions, the senator praised Amazon's decision to raise the salaries of its employees. "What Mr. Bezos has done today is not only extremely important to the hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees, it could also be a shot fired around the world," he said. Sanders said in a statement. "Mr. Bezos and Amazon help lead the way."

Working conditions in Amazon's distribution centers have long been a concern of union activists. Employees would have very little break time and are often forced to urinate in garbage cans due to lack of breaks in the washroom. Others are asking for federal help to make ends meet, a point that has sparked special criticism. Employees organized strikes on some of Amazon's biggest purchase dates to protest working conditions.

Stacy Mitchell, co-director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, says these criticisms may have forced Amazon to act. "Their clients are a lot of blue voters and a lot of urban liberals. I think they understand that when Senator Sanders talks about something, he has an audience of millions of people who listen very carefully. That was an important factor, "says Mitchell.

Amazon has also drawn criticism from President Trump. In March, the president launched a series of tweets criticizing the company and its CEO for using the US postal service as "delivery" and paid "little or no" national and local taxes. Yesterday's decision seems to have blunted at least some of these criticisms. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow had the opportunity to respond to the announcement in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. The President's Council approved the decision of the company. "Good for them," said Kudlow. "I am in favor of higher wages."

Last month, a group of Whole Foods employees worried about their work wrote a letter to employees of nearly 500 grocers encouraging them to join a union. Those seeking union membership have reported a deterioration of the situation and job losses since Amazon acquired the grocery chain last year. In a training video reported for the first time by Gizmodo, the company actively silenced attempts by employees to unionize by teaching the new manager the[s]"Organizing organizing them and explaining to them why Amazon believes that it would hurt society as a whole.

Tuesday's announcement was announced as political critics got louder and the job market narrowed. Matt Stoller, a member of the Open Markets Institute, said the choice of increasing employee wages could simply be the result of an "extremely tight job market". According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the United States is 3.9% from August. 2018. Amazon's decision to raise wages could entice people to work for the company. This is all the more so as the holiday shopping seasons are looming. The increase will begin November 1, just weeks before Black Friday.

More importantly, the e-commerce giant could prepare for a good press to ward off any threat of antitrust prosecution. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who launched the idea of ​​a presidential race in 2020, suggested that Amazon should be split into its two building blocks – a retailer and a retailer. platform – to combat any anti-competitive behavior. concerns. Just days after Warren's interview, the European Union launched its own antitrust investigation into the company's business tactics. The announcement of the wage increase is helping to position Bezos as a friendly billionaire and the antitrust criticism may not seem so urgent to critics if the country's second largest employer seems to be prioritizing Bezos' conditions and salaries. his employees.

"In the end, everything the government does depends on public support," Mitchell said. "To the extent that you can try to maintain good public opinion and distract people who have fundamental problems with your power, you have a better chance of evading a congressional inquiry, a federal prosecution, a prosecution. brought by a group of states. "