Amazon extends $2 pay raise to end of May

Amazon is extending a $2 hourly pay raise for workers through the end of May, company spokesman Timothy Carter told The Hill on Tuesday.

It will also extend double overtime pay in the U.S. and Canada.

“These extensions increase our total investment in pay during COVID-19 to nearly $800 million for our hourly employees and partners,” Carter said in a statement.

The online retail giant first instituted the hazard pay for warehouse and fulfillment center workers in March.

It was set to expire at the end of April before being extended through May 16.

Amazon has seen demand for its services surge during the coronavirus pandemic and has hired well over 100,000 new workers.

Workers at warehouses and fulfillment centers — as well as tech workers — have been critical of Amazon’s handling of that new demand and the pandemic more broadly.

Last month, more than 300 Amazon workers called out of work after a string of strikes across the country calling for better workplace measures, such as closing down factories and doing deep cleans after positive cases at facilities. Hundreds of Amazon workers also participated in May Day protests.

Carter, the Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement that while the company “respects people’s right to express themselves, we object to the irresponsible actions of labor groups in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon during this unprecedented health and economic crisis.”

Amazon has pledged to provide workers with protective equipment, increase cleaning and enforce social distancing measures at warehouses.

Workers have disputed the company’s follow through on those processes.

More than 130 Amazon facilities have had at least one employee test positive for COVID-19, and two workers have died from the disease caused by coronavirus,

Extending hazard pay through May does not meet the demands of many of the workers speaking up.

“Compensating us for the risks we’re taking is the least Amazon could do, and I’m glad to see Amazon listening to our demands to keep hazard pay in place past May 16,” Monica Moody, a fulfillment center worker in Charlotte, N.C., said Wednesday.

“But let’s be real: two weeks of extra pay isn’t close to what we need. We are literally watching each other get sick every day, and it’s not slowing down,” she added. “At a minimum, hazard pay should be extended for the entire length of this pandemic. If we are putting our lives at risk to pack and deliver Amazon packages, we deserve to be paid for it.”

Workers are also pushing for the reinstatement of Amazon’s unlimited unpaid time off policy, which was discontinued on May 1.

On Tuesday, 13 state attorneys general sent a letter to Amazon calling for it to reinstate the policy, among other requests.

“We ask that the companies extend their unlimited unpaid leave policies for as long as a state or federal state of emergency exists in each of our states,” they wrote. “To refuse to do is to place employees in the impossible position of either returning to work while sick or caring for family members or losing one’s job.”

When asked about the letter, an Amazon official told The Hill that the company will “continue to invest in safety, pay, and benefits for our teams who are playing an invaluable role in getting items to communities around the world.”

For workers, those investments have not gone far enough.

“Amazon is one of the richest companies on the planet, and Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man,” Moody said. “They can more than afford to protect our health.”

—Updated at 7:00pm