When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s More Complicated

Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by paulpauper on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @09:57PM (#18289077)

Yeah I remember Bernie Sanders praised Amazon's decision in a tweet, but only later did people and the media realize that increasing the minimum wage came at a cost to other things, such as stock compensation. no free lunch guys.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by coldtea on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @03:27AM (#18290359)

>no free lunch guys.

Nobody asked for a "free lunch", those people already work very hard for what they get.

So, it's not much "no free lunch", but "I'll do a token gesture of giving you more while taking your money from elsewhere, because I'm a hypocrite greedy bastard".

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by steve19 on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @10:04PM (#18289114)

Amazon realized that they kept getting a black eye because of their wages so of course they pivoted. Now some workers are probably worse off. I blame the media for only caring about sensationalist headlines.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by endorphone on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @08:36AM (#18291843)

I doubt many are worse off, and of the stories about lost fringe benefits there was a telling lack of details. In reality people got a raise and thought "Why not both?"

However I think Amazon gave raises simply because they needed to recruit and retain. In my area Amazon runs "we're hiring...if you're alive you get a job, no resume no interview" constantly year round, so they clearly have a pressing need. At some point running the ads and constantly hiring is more expensive than just paying a more competitive rate.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by pm90 on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @10:30PM (#18289233)

What nonsense. Many thousands of workers will be compensated much better. Other retailers will have to increase their wages. This is a good outcome.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by chimpburger on Tuesday October 23, 2018 @11:29PM (#18289484)

Did you even read the article? Many thousands of workers will be compensated less. The higher wages came at the cost of no more free stocks.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by bryanlarsen on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @07:25AM (#18291410)

Nobody is going to be compensated less. The "extra" compensation they received before was simply a consequence of the fact that Amazon stock quadrupled in the last three years.

So if previously they got $14 + 0.50 in shares their total comp ended up being $16. But they still got paid less than somebody who was paid $15 in cash straight up (who could have then purchased AMZN on the market).

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by csharp on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @07:25AM (#18291411)

I think OP meant that it will hopefully cause other employers to follow lead and raise wages (e.g. fast food, other retailers, etc).

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by forapurpose on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @12:37AM (#18289756)

> I blame the media

Amazon isn't responsible for its own decisions?

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by TeMPOraL on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @02:32AM (#18290162)

To some extent, maybe. But then again, if you poke a bear with a stick and it mauls you, nobody will blame the bear.

If we expect responsibility for decisions to companies, then it's only fair if media outlets too are held responsible for the consequences of misapplying public pressure.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by forapurpose on Thursday October 25, 2018 @10:56AM (#18301365)

> if you poke a bear with a stick and it mauls you, nobody will blame the bear

I think that analogy goes against your argument: The bear is a wild animal unable to make rational decisions. Amazon is an extremely powerful company lead by some of the leading businesspeople in the world. The difference between Amazon and the bear is exactly why Amazon is solely responsible for its decisions.

> misapplying

That'a s matter of opinion; IMHO, it was and is not at all misapplied.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by skookumchuck on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @03:04AM (#18290265)

Our local communist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant loves to excoriate Amazon with her bullhorn. She gets a lot of press for it.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by Tsubasachan on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @09:36AM (#18292246)

You want to be paid in stocks? Of one single company? Planning your retirement on whether or not Amazon is even around in 30+ years seems foolish.

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Re:When Sears Flourished, So Did Workers. At Amazon, It’s Mo... by SmellyGeekBoy on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @05:51AM (#18290980)

I'm not sure what Bernie Sanders has to do with this other than trying to steer this into yet another irrelevant partisan political debate.

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