Amazon workers slam company for ending $2 coronavirus pay bump for warehouse workers as Bezos’ fortune nears $150billion
AMAZON workers are slamming the company for ending a $2 coronavirus pay bump for warehouse workers.
The backlash came as CEO ' fortune nears $150billion.
"It just kills me that the company cares nothing about what a pay cut will do to morale," one South Carolina worker told of the extra pay cut.
It was estimated as of last week that around 100 cases had been confirmed at warehouses across the country, the reported.
Around eight workers have been reported dead from the virus, news reports say.
Amid the pandemic, Amazon workers have gone on strike and demand that warehouses be shut down and cleaned after workers have tested positive.
In mid-March, the company began to give warehouse and delivery workers a bump of $2 per hour, in addition to doubling overtime pay.
Although the overtime and bonus hourly pay was originally supposed to end in April, it was extended to the end of May.
Senior vice president of worldwide operations Dave Clark confirmed with that those benefits would come to an end May 31.
The bonus pay loss came as Jeff Bezos' net worth grew 30.6 percent – or $34.6billion – amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures from
Bezos is also , it was revealed last month.
"Almost everyone is very disappointed and angry," an Indiana worker told Business Insider of the end of the bonuses.
"We want the pay until the masks go away," they added.
Although the pay increase has ended, COVID-19 cases have continued to increase in the US.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 1.8 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the US, with over 106,000 deaths.
As cases continued to pop up in warehouses, Amazon would begin to notify workers of confirmed cases via text, Business Insider reported.
A California worker told Business Insider. they got a text about a confirmed case on May 18, that a person with the virus was in the warehouse on April 7.
"Not only should we continuing receiving the hazard pay, but we deserve more than $2," the worker said.
Amazon sent a statement to The Sun on Wednesday in regard to the bonus pay: "To thank employees and help meet increased demand, we’ve paid our team and partners nearly $800 million extra since COVID-19 started while continuing to offer full benefits from day one of employment."
"With demand stabilized, next month we’ll return to our industry-leading starting wage of $15 an hour.
"We’re proud that our minimum wage is more than what most others offer even after their temporary increases in recent months, and we hope they’ll do the right thing for the long term and bring their minimum pay closer to ours," the company added.
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An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider that the company's "top concern is ensuring the health and safety of our employees."
The spokesperson added that the company would spend around $4billion from April to June "to get products to customers and keep employees safe."
"This includes spending more than $800 million in the first half of the year on COVID-19 safety measures, with investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and developing our own COVID-19 testing capabilities, etc," the spokesperson added.
Amid the loss of bonus pay for Amazon workers, – the highest they've been since the Great Depression.
Over workers have filed jobless claims amid the COVID-19 outbreak.