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national employment law project
'When We Fight, We Win': Amazon Boosts Pay as Workers Launch Bid for $25 an Hour
"Today shows that Amazon workers are united and stronger than ever in our demands for higher pay," said one warehouse worker and organizer.
Sep 18, 2024
As Amazon workers across the United States launched a campaign demanding at least $25 an hour, the e-commerce giant announced Wednesday that it is raising hourly pay for its warehouse workers and drivers.
In what Amazon vice president of worldwide operations Udit Madan called the company's "biggest-ever investment in pay and benefits," the average starting pay for U.S. fulfillment and transportation workers will rise starting this month.
"Members of our front-line team will be getting at least an additional $1.50/hour starting this month, which will bring their average base wage to more than $22/hour and average total compensation to more than $29/hour when you include the value of their elected benefits," such as healthcare, said Madan, who added that the workers will also receive free Amazon Prime subscriptions.
While the Amazon workers who launched the drive for $25 welcomed the announcement, they say they deserve more.
"I've lost out on thousands of dollars of income. I haven't gotten a paycheck since my short-term disability—which only covered 60% of my regular pay—ended in January," said Christine, a worker at Amazon's STL8 fulfillment center in Missouri and longtime member of the STL8 Organizing Committee.
"I'm awaiting approval for long-term disability, which I applied for back in January," explained Christine, who was injured on the job. "I've maxed out my credit cards and drained my 401(k). I'm on food stamps. I just got approved for Medicaid. At one point I started a GoFundMe just to make rent. I've never been in the position of having to ask for money, but the alternative was homelessness. When you're forced into that position, you do what it takes to survive."
"Today shows that Amazon workers are united and stronger than ever in our demands for higher pay," she added. "With over 800 worker signatures on our petition and new workers joining us from across the region, together we will win the $25 an hour that we all deserve."
According to the campaign:
Research suggests working families need at least $25 to make it by. In Missouri, for example, a livable wage for a family of four is at least $25; in New York, the livable wage is even higher, at $39. However, a majority of Amazon warehouse workers reported earning wages between $16 and $20—before Amazon increased starting pay to $17 in September 2023. Amazon itself reports an average pay of $20.50.
"The $1 raise that Amazon gave workers last year was shameful. After accounting for inflation, it wasn't even a raise," lamented Irene Tung, senior researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. "Our research has shown that Amazon tends to locate its warehouses in high earnings counties around the country, but lags behind other warehouse employers in pay—even though it can afford to pay workers much more."
Advocates point to Amazon's $30.4 billion 2023 profits as proof that the company can afford to pay its workers more.
"Raising pay by 25% would bring Amazon workers much closer to a middle-income standard of earnings," Tung said. "Given Amazon's size and the enormity of its wealth, it is not far-fetched to ask why this company has thus far failed at creating middle-income jobs for the hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers that power its operations."
Beth Gutelius—the author of Handling Hardship: Data on Economic Insecurity Among Amazon Warehouse Workers—said in a statement that "if warehouse wages had kept pace with inflation, workers would be earning $25.66 an hour—so workers are simply asking Amazon to bring wages in line with the cost of living, which as we know has risen sharply."
"Doing so would help ensure that workers are able to meet their basic needs without relying on public assistance," she added.
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Minimum Wage Hikes Will Boost Pay of Nearly 10 Million US Workers in 2024
"These raises are the outcome of over a decade of workers organizing with Fight for $15," said the National Employment Law Project.
Dec 27, 2023
Tireless campaigning by economic justice advocates helped to secure minimum wage hikes for nearly 10 million U.S. workers starting in 2024, and one think tank noted on Wednesday that further successes at the state and local levels are expected in the coming year—but experts said the federal government must catch up with state legislators to deliver fair wages to all workers.
January 1 will see 22 states increase their minimum wages, providing affected workers with an additional $6.95 billion.
That's not counting the 38 cities and counties where minimum pay will be raised starting New Year's Day, including in Montgomery County, Maryland and in Tukwila, Washington, a city outside Seattle that will have the highest minimum wage in the country at $20.29 per hour.
A shrinking number of states still abide by the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which has not been updated in nearly 15 years.
"In the absence of federal action, states and localities continue to take the lead in advancing fairer wage floors via legislation, ballot measures, and automatic inflation adjustments," wrote Sebastian Martinez Hickey, a research assistant at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), last week.
For the first time in 2024, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York will require workers to be paid at least $15 an hour, joining other high cost-of-living states including California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
At the National Employment Law Project (NELP), senior researcher and policy analyst Yannet Lathrop pointed out on Tuesday that just over a decade after the national Fight for $15 movement was launched, none of the recent ongoing minimum wage campaigns demand less than $15 per hour, and many of the recent victories and campaigns push for "significantly higher wage floors of $20 or above."
The bold demands and reforms of the past year signal "the strength of the movement and a recognition that robust wage increases are needed especially in a post-pandemic, high inflation economic environment," wrote Lathrop. "Some of these campaigns are also demanding equal wages and treatment for all workers including those earning tips, signaling the increasing importance of equitable wage policies."
NELP also noted that the adoption of the $15 minimum wage by large employers like Starbucks and Amazon is likely to positively influence the wage policies of companies across the country.
In addition to raising minimum wages, city and state policymakers have taken other actions this year to stop the exploitation of workers. An ordinance passed in Chicago will phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers by 2028, and in Boulder County, Colorado, the minimum wage will be raised to $25 per hour by 2030.
Advocates brought to Boulder County policymakers' attention EPI's Family Budget Calculator, wrote Hickey, which showed that a two-income, two-parent, two-child household would need to earn roughly $26 per hour at both jobs to cover "a modest living standard."
The research underscored "how difficult it is for low-wage workers to find a way to live sustainably," Hickey wrote. "A $25 minimum wage might seem high, but the truth is that Boulder County is unlikely to be the highest minimum wage in the country in 2030 because of steps other localities have taken to index their minimum wages to inflation. Strong minimum wage policy can only benefit localities seeking a thriving and equitable local economy."
According to EPI, the minimum wage increases across the U.S. in the new year will disproportionately benefit Black and Hispanic workers. Black Americans make up 9% of the workforce in the states where increases will go into effect, but represent 11.1% of the affected employees. Fewer than 20% of workers in the states are Hispanic, but Hispanic workers make up 37.9% of those whose wages will be increased.
The new state and local laws will increase the purchasing power of households that include 5.6 million children, as more than a quarter of affected workers—2.5 million people—are working parents.
And nearly 20% of workers who will get a raise on January 1 have incomes below the poverty line.
"The minimum wage continues to be a powerful tool for fostering economic equity and ensuring a dignified standard of living for workers across the nation," wrote Hickey. "The proactive steps many states and localities took to index their minimum wages to inflation has helped protect the purchasing power of low-wage workers during the recent period of inflation."
NELP noted that later in 2024, additional minimum wage increases will go into effect in at least three more states and 22 more cities and counties—and advocates will continue campaigning for more victories across the country in the coming year.
Campaigners in states including Alaska, Ohio, and Oklahoma are collecting signatures for ballot initiatives that would push minimum wages to $15 or above, and in California an initiative pushing for an $18 minimum wage by 2026 has qualified for 2024 ballots.
Hickey noted that campaigners are still fighting on behalf of 17.6 million workers who employers continue to pay less than $15 per hour—almost half of whom live in one of the 20 states that use the federal minimum wage.
"Policy reforms are still necessary," wrote Hickey, "to overcome federal inaction and the persistence of unjust minimum wage carve-outs like the tipped minimum wage."
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Biden Admin Proposes 'Much-Needed' Overtime Protections for 3.6 Million Workers
While welcoming the move, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus also urged the president to "not to consider the job done with this proposed rule, and pursue a relentless commitment to fair overtime pay."
Aug 30, 2023
Labor rights advocates within and beyond Congress celebrated on Wednesday after the Biden administration proposed a federal rule to restore and extend overtime protections to 3.6 million more salaried workers earning up to about $55,000 a year.
"For over 80 years, a cornerstone of workers' rights in this country is the right to a 40-hour workweek, the promise that you get to go home after 40 hours or you get higher pay for each extra hour that you spend laboring away from your loved ones," said Julie Su, who is acting secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) because her nomination is stalled in the U.S. Senate.
"I've heard from workers again and again about working long hours, for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that don't come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifices," she said. "Today, the Biden-Harris administration is proposing a rule that would help restore workers' economic security by giving millions more salaried workers the right to overtime protections if they earn less than $55,000 a year. Workers deserve to continue to share in the economic prosperity of Bidenomics."
Informed by 27 listening sessions, the rule would ensure most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week get overtime pay after 40 hours; clarify which administrative, executive, or professional employees should be overtime exempt; automatically update the salary threshold every three years in line with earnings data; and restore overtime protections for U.S. territories.
"This proposal is a crucial step in creating a stronger, fairer economy."
"Once again, the Biden administration is listening to workers' voices by taking these much-needed steps to strengthen overtime protections," declared Rebecca Dixon, president and CEO of the National Employment Law Project. "Ensuring this proposed rule is finalized and implemented as soon as possible is essential because workers don't deserve to wait any longer for the benefits this rule will provide."
Economic Policy Institute president Heidi Shierholz—a former DOL chief economist—similarly praised the proposal, saying that "EPI is encouraged to see this important regulation move forward. The overtime threshold has not been properly updated for nearly 50 years, robbing millions of workers of their basic wage and hour rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act."
"Currently, a worker making just $36,000 a year can be required to work 50- or 60-hour workweeks with no additional pay," she noted. "This proposal would ensure that employers have 'skin in the game' when they ask these workers to work long hours. As a result, these workers will either get those extra hours back or they will get higher wages when they do work long hours—whether through salary increases or by earning time-and-a-half overtime pay. This proposal is a crucial step in creating a stronger, fairer economy."
Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also applauded the DOL's move to "advance this key pillar of worker justice" while stressing that "it doesn't go far enough," leaving "too many behind when a larger increase to the threshold could give millions more families breathing room in their budgets at a time when they desperately need it."
The congresswoman highlighted the CPC's "long history of advocating for bold action" under then-President Barack Obama in 2014, 2015, and 2016, as well as in the caucus' 2022 and 2023 executive action agendas under Biden, who was Obama's vice president.
"Our caucus understands this is about basic fairness: People should be paid for every hour they work," Jayapal emphasized. "It is also about economic justice: Workers should not be forced to donate their time over 40 hours per week to their employers, especially for those who work at wealthy corporations that are raking in record profits."
“The CPC called for the overtime threshold to be raised to $80,000 per year, which would cover 55% of workers at one-and-a-half times their regular pay—and grant fair pay to 26 million new workers," she added. "We urge President Biden not to consider the job done with this proposed rule, and pursue a relentless commitment to fair overtime pay, which would be a powerful demonstration of his pro-worker commitment. We cannot rest until we've exhausted every option to ease the burden on working- and middle-class people."
The current threshold of $35,568 was previously raised from $23,660 in 2019 under then-President Donald Trump—the current front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. With only a few longshot Democratic challengers, Biden is expected to face the Republican nominee next year.
The Associated Pressreported Wednesday that "the new rule could face pushback from business groups that mounted a successful legal challenge against similar regulation that Biden announced as vice president during the Obama administration, when he sought to raise the threshold to more than $47,000."
Publication of the administration's notice of proposed rulemaking kicks off a 60-day public comment period. Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator at the DOL's Wage and Hour Division, said Wednesday that "public input is essential as we consider the needs of today's workforce and industry demands, and we encourage continued stakeholder input during the public comment period."
"We are committed to ensuring that all workers are paid fairly for their hard work," she said. "For too long, many low-paid salaried workers have been denied overtime pay, even though they often work long hours and perform much of the same work as their hourly counterparts. This proposed rule would ensure that more workers receive extra pay when they work long hours."
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