In 2016, they made a profit of $857 million on a revenue of $30.1 billion--- i.e. profit margin of 2%, compared to Alphabet's 9.7% or Facebook's 36%(!!!). It's the number that investors care about, because it tells them how likely they are to get money back out of a business when the invest money into it. It's also a number the company cares about, because it tells them how much of a shock to their fixed costs they could stomach without suddenly finding themselves spending more than they make to keep the doors open.
Amazon's (relatively) razor-thin margins are what make the company so paranoid about costs like wages and benefits; they've seen America's history of burning hulks of older companies wrecked by making pension promises when profits were high that they couldn't honor when profits tailed off.
Imagine if you are Amazon. Do you take the extra billion dollars you earned this month and throw it into another warehouse and more growth opportunities? Or do you keep your size the same and use that money to raise wages?
It's more of question of how they are allocating funds. Either way, the "profit" stays the same.
Amazon has been focused on growth at all costs, and that meant keeping wages razor slim and reinvesting every spare penny.
The real question is: Will slowing their growth investments and paying their employees a fair wage actually help their growth in the long run?
That's why you want inter-professional union.
Of course that system has been built over decades and the way it operates and negotiations are handled can vastly differ between neighboring countries (think France which is more confrontational at first and Germany where unions are more integrated into the process) (plus, unions have different political outlooks, so it's not one size fits all).
In countries with a strong social net unions use their affiliate's entrance fees to guarantee they are paid for striked days. Also some countries have laws that forbid employers to punish strikers (granted they announce in time they are going on a strike). Some sectors (medical, police, etc.) have some restrictions on that "right to strike".
That's just a really short resume, though and I don't know if such a thing could be possible in the USA.
They want a nice, clean work environment for their employees. So you need janitors.
Want to provide catered lunch? You need food service workers.
And the bar for "good enough" at those levels are much lower. You don't need a 5-star lunch every day. You need a decent lunch that's better than going out. And things can only get so clean.
Also, the parent's question was about Google.
https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-detail...
Employees (full-time and part-time; excludes contractors & temporary personnel): 575,700
As dang said, if you're going to make a big claim, at least attempt to be right.
Which, by the way, is (part of) why they’re so dominant.
https://infographic.statista.com/normal/chartoftheday_4298_a...
Net income doesn’t do that naturally or by accident.
Doing so while exploiting workers and dubious tax arrangements is not.
No, of course not, but it's a victory that the pressure on them was enough they felt they had to make a concession.
This may be true, but it doesn't nullify the fact that the workers are actually receiving a benefit from this, and it's a good thing that's worth pointing out.
That's because they treat their workers terrible. They're a huge company with a lot of profit and how people at the bottom of the chain are treated is maddening. They're seen as an example of how not to treat workers (and for good reason).
They definitely should not be lauded for this: They did some calculations and projections which showed that raising the minimum wage brings more benefits (PR stunt, not being the target of new legislation anymore, etc) than downsides (now having to pay X more to some people).
I refuse to believe Bezos woke up this morning with a new moral sense to change the ship around.