If prices go on up Amazon, you can thank Bernie Sanders after the company buckled to the left-wing Senator’s demands and raised its minimum wage to $15.
The change will affect all employees including temporary, full time, and seasonal workers. It will occur on November 1st, just in time to raise prices on Christmas shoppers to offset this massive expense.
Sanders is a vocal cheerleader of the left’s push in the fight for $15 an hour minimum wage. The socialist Senator from New Hampshire solicited stories from Amazon employees about working conditions in order to pressure the company into raising its wages.
Sanders declared war on Amazon by introducing the Stop Bad Employers By Zeroing Out Subsidies Act. This Stop BEZOS Act was intended to troll and embarrass Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. It apparently did just that as the company was quick with its knee-jerk reaction to drastically raise the behemoth company’s minimum wage.
This change wasn’t drastic enough for Amazon, however. The company doesn’t want this pay increase to be optional for other employers in the United States anymore. Jay Carney, the senior vice president of Amazon’s global corporate affairs said they will lobby federal legislators to raise the current minimum wage of $7.25, which was established a decade ago.
The online giant employs 300,000 people in the United States. All of them, as well as employees hired to fill the holiday rush, will be guaranteed this new pay rate.
Other companies have reacted to cries and pressure to increase wages by stating that would result in higher prices for customers as well as unemployment. To compensate for an increase in pay, some workers at places like McDonald’s could be replaced with automated machines that could help fill orders.
Minimum wage jobs were intended to be stepping stones for people, such as high school students, who are perfect examples of these employees. People should be compensated according to their skill and the job description. Supply and demand applies to the workforce as well. Regulating pay puts restrictions on employers and if they are forced to pay at least $15 an hour, they just might decide it’s not worth hiring anyone else.
Amazon will have to decide if buckling to Bernie Sanders’ demands will be something that affects their profits or if they will pass that burden along to the Customers.
Source: AOL