Yesterday, Amazon issued its response to the accusations made by US Senator, Bernie Sanders, saying that all his claims are misleading. Sanders has been tweeting horror stories of working at Amazon for almost a month leading to the “Amazon vs Sanders” war.
According to Sanders, Jeff Bezos, the owner of the tech giant, despite being one of the richest persons in the world, is paying his employees very low wages. Because of this, the employees have to depend on taxpayer-funded programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing to survive.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Sanders said that he is seeking more information about the working conditions in Amazon warehouses ahead of the legislation he’s preparing to introduce on September 5. He is all set to introduce a bill next week aimed at improving the work conditions in large companies such as Amazon and Walmart. He has also circulated a form for Amazon’s current and former employees to share their working experience at Amazon.
Amazon clarified that, it is paying employees highly competitive wages and is providing them a climate controlled and safe workplace. On Sanders’ SNAP references, it said that the employees who are on SNAP include people who worked for them for a short period of time and/or chose to work part-time.
Amazon has listed various benefits provided to its employees ensuring employee well-being and personal development. It further suggested, those interested in learning more about warehouse conditions can book a tour to one of its fulfillment centers and “see the actual implementations, live.”
The head of Global Operations, Dave Clark, posted a tweet encouraging his associates to submit a response stating the truth:
Sanders said, he is not affected by Amazon’s response and has challenged them to make their hiring numbers, hourly rate, and benefits public:
With so many claims made by both the parties, it is difficult to conclude who is on the right side. The probably lies somewhere in the middle. One thing is clear though, stories such as these are a sign of an active democracy where tech and government push each other to be better.
If you want to know more on this story, see this official statement by Amazon and also follow Bernie Sanders on Twitter.
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