By Jake Johnson | Common Dreams
What does it look and sound like when thousands of Amazon workers learn that CEO and world's richest man Jeff Bezos has finally relented to widespread grassroots pressure and raised the company's minimum wage to $15 an hour?
In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Dave Clark—Amazon's senior vice president for worldwide operations and customer service—captured the moment he announced to California warehouse workers early Tuesday that Amazon has decided, in the face of intensifying political scrutiny, to raise its entry-level wage to $15 an hour for all of its 350,000 U.S. workers.
“This is what the political revolution is all about,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who has been leading the public pressure and shaming campaign against Amazon over the past several months—wrote on Twitter in response to the video.
Watch:
This is what the political revolution is all about: today 350,000 Amazon workers found out they are getting a raise to at least $15 an hour. pic.twitter.com/RbEojpc9X0
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 2, 2018
While Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) were applauded for their major role in calling attention to Amazon's poverty wages and awful warehouse working conditions with legislation and public town halls, the Vermont senator said during a press conference on Tuesday that the Fight for $15 movement and workers nationwide are the real “heroes” who deserve all the credit for the wage boost.
“Let me thank the many hundreds of Amazon workers who contacted my office and the Fight for $15 movement which has been leading this effort for years,” Sanders said. “What Mr. Bezos has done today is not only enormously important for Amazon's hundreds of thousands of employees, it could well be a shot heard around the world. Mr. Bezos and Amazon are helping to lead the way, but there is no reason why other profitable corporations in the fast food industry, the airlines and retail should not be following suit.”
What happened at Amazon is a big step forward for workers across the nation. I want to thank the many hundreds of workers at Amazon fulfillment centers all across this country who contacted us and spoke up. pic.twitter.com/5UebVD5gnM
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 2, 2018
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