1. It’s nice to see Amazon workers get a raise today, and not just the regular hires, but the temps too. What led to this? Five things….
2. First, it’s a very tight labor market and Amazon needs a bunch of people in its warehouses right now for the 4th quarter.
3. Second, advocacy by @SenSanders & @RoKhanna, & groups like @jwjnational & @ilsr, compelled Amazon to act. Amazon almost never responds to critics. But Sanders and Khanna unnerved Amazon deeply, as I pointed out in an earlier thread:
4. Third, Amazon is run by the world’s richest man (net worth = $160 billion) and his recent attempt to make this unconscionable disparity seem okay with a $2B charity pledge just didn’t cut it. Bezos is the face of inequality.
That’s still true after today.
That’s still true after today.
5. Fourth, Amazon has another way to cut labor costs: automation. It needs fewer workers today to sell & ship $100M worth of stuff than it did just a few years ago. That trend is only accelerating. Some e-commerce warehouses in China have a staff of 4 people. They fix the robots.
6. Finally, and this is the big reason: Amazon fears an antitrust case to break it up. They’re right to be nervous. In the last week: @SenWarren called for it. The EU's @vestager opened an antitrust probe. A former Amazon exec said competition depended on splitting Amazon in two.
7. To keep its grip, Amazon is going to try to buy off constituencies, one by one.
8. Workers getting a raise is a good thing. But what we need is so much bigger. No company should have this much power. Inevitably, it means that Amazon gets to set the rules, economically & politically. And those rules will always privilege Amazon's interest over the public’s.
