Amazon Will Raise Wages for Its Workforce in the U.S. and the U.K. After Criticism

On Tuesday, October 2, Amazon announced that will raise its wages for all of its seasonal, temporary, part-time, and full-time workers in both the United States and the United Kingdom after public criticism over controversial working conditions and low pay. The pay raise will start on November 1, 2018, during the beginning of the fall and winter holiday season, especially during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and Hannukah.

The pay raise will vary in both countries. All of their own American workers will be paid $15 per hour, higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and other state minimum wages nationwide. All of their own British workers will have a pay raise from £8.20 or $10.64 an hour to £10.50 or $13.62 an hour in London. Outside London, the pay rate will increase from £8 or $10.38 an hour to £9.50 or $12.33 per hour.

The online retailing company, which is worth more than $1 trillion and their own founder and current CEO, Jeff Bezos, is worth more than $164 billion that makes him the richest person in history as well as currently in the world, has more than 575,000 employees worldwide. Amazon has been criticized for a wide variety of issues in recent years including preventing their workers from forming an organized labor union, not paying their fair share of taxes or not paying taxes at all, its own handling consumer data, not following anti-trust laws, and controversial working conditions at their shipping warehouse such as increases in workplace injuries and urinating on the job without little to no bathroom breaks.