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Amazon Extends Bonus Pay For Front-line Workers But Says it Ends in June (vox.com) 28

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
Amazon plans to extend hazard pay for warehouse workers through the end of May, but it will return to normal pay rates in June, the company's top operations executive told Recode in an interview on Tuesday. From a report: The decision comes as Amazon faces intense scrutiny from progressive politicians, activist groups, and its own workforce over its treatment of its front-line employees who have kept working during the coronavirus pandemic. In mid-March, as the pandemic shut down businesses across the world that are deemed nonessential, Amazon started paying its warehouse and delivery employees in the US an additional $2 per hour as well as double overtime pay. It offered similar temporary pay increases for front-line staff in Canada, the UK, and some European countries.
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Amazon Extends Bonus Pay For Front-line Workers But Says it Ends in June More

Amazon Extends Bonus Pay For Front-line Workers But Says it Ends in June

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  • Err......so? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @01:41PM (#60056730) Homepage Journal
    I mean, if things calm down, then I guess sure they go back to regular pay.

    I would imagine, however, even if this is the plan...and things don't calm down and demand is high and they see workers not wanting to come work for that lower pay...that the extra $$ bonuses etc will continue.

    Isn't that just business?

    Supply and demand?

    • Re:Err......so? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by RightSaidFred99 ( 874576 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @02:05PM (#60056844)

      Yes. I think people misunderstand what "hazard pay" is. It's not something you generally give out of the kindness of your heart, it's something you use if there are insufficient workers to do the work you need done. So if Amazon workers start staying home and they don't have enough people then they would use hazard pay to entice people back to work.

      Frankly the risk of working right now, even for grocery workers or healthcare workers, is way overstated. It would be interesting to compare risk right now to e.g. construction workers or some other risky jobs prior to corona.

      This is complicated, though, by the extra $600 for unemployment. It hardly seems fair that if two people both make $12/hr and one gets laid off he might get paid more than someone else who still goes to work every day. And you can't quit or no unemployment.

      They should give payroll tax cuts (immediate, reduced deductions) to people still working.

      • Can you help me my roommmate put cameras all over our house without telling us. He says itâ(TM)s his house now that Iâ(TM)ve found two but who knows how long theyâ(TM)ve been there and what heâ(TM)s recorded Iâ(TM)m looking for new house but wanna make sure he doesnâ(TM)t have photos of me on them

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DewDude ( 537374 )
      They'll just fire those workers and find people willing to do it. With 30% of the country unemployed and looking at the prospects of losing careers; there will be plenty of people hungry for work that will do the dangerous stuff at even less than normal pay.

      I've often said the only companies that will survive and be employing are the ones that abuse workers and get away with paying nothing. The future will be everyone working 5 to 10 hour shifts a week at Walmart for the "new minimum wage" of whatever the

    • Currently waiting about a month for my in-stock orders to arrive. Amazon is doing something wrong, wish they were more transparent with how they are screwing up. (All my orders are delivered by USPS.)

      I have to think the human labor component to stuffing an order is less than 5 minutes; I don’t get why they cannot scale better, even with volume up.

      • Firstly, they can't scale because the equipment is only so big, can only move so many packages, and all the people who would build it, as well as all the assembly and project teams are facing major travel restrictions. Amazon is currently at effectively peak capacity, has held there for two and a half months, and any projects in the pipeline for new greenfield capacity are delayed if not cancelled. No matter how much undeserved scorn you have for the people on the warehouse floor, or the folks managing t

  • And pay hazard pay. If they can declare meat packers have to go to work they can double or triple their pay while they're risking their lives for Cheeseburgers.

    • But isn't a really good cheeseburger worth risking your life for?

    • Or they can just stay the hell out and let the meat packers charge more if they need to pay employees more to work in hazardous conditions. The rest of the country, including people who don't even eat meat, don't need to have their money taken to subsidize the people who want a cheeseburger. If consumers aren't willing to pay more for meat, then there's no problem if production is reduced in response as people are apparently more than willing to substitute for something else.

  • Human nature will make the shift back down about impossible while keeping people happy. To quell this, they should probably say, "Guess what? We're going to make the $2/hr. pay increase permanent," in a last minute announcement and get a PR win (while ditching the double pay for OT).

    If Jeff Bezos can swing keeping a great sci-fi show (The Expanse) on the air with a simple phone call, Amazon could probably pull this off... :)

    • Re:It'll be a tough sell to go back (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DewDude ( 537374 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2020 @02:23PM (#60056900) Homepage
      No. You simply tell people "work for what we pay or hit the road". Knowing they won't have unemployment or any other real jobs...people will either say...or leave. People are replaceable at jobs like this. I'm sure all Amazon has to do is say "hey...we need workers" and some of the 30-someodd unemployed Americans desperate for money will take it.

      Employment won't be based on skills...it will be based on desperation; people so desperate for work they'll work for nothing.
  • And he'd still be obscenely wealthy.

  • When he says it will just go away on its own without a vaccine. Why else would they end it in June, during what is predicted to be a terrible month?

  • Most States and localities are targeting end of June/first of July to open up again. So why would a person expect "bonus hazard pay" when the lockdown is lifted?

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