PORTLAND, Ore. — Tuesday morning, Amazon posted a video on its blog as an announcement of the new minimum Amazon wage of $15 an hour.
Some of the employees in the video scream with joy.
They will now make roughly $31 thousand a year, beginning November 1st.
I wanted to learn local reaction to the announcement, but Amazon declined to make employees or managers available in Oregon.
The company does have a growing presence with distribution centers in Salem and Troutdale and a sorting center in Hillsboro and a Prime hub in Portland. All told the company will have about 35 hundred workers in Oregon.
On the streets of Portland, I stopped people at random to get their reaction. Some like Brian Martinez like the company’s move, sort of.
“I think it’s a good step in the right direction,” Martinez said.
But he thinks it should be even higher.
“Given the fact that inflation is still occurring, and the value of our money is still going down, I can't imagine that $15 an hour would go too far now,” he said.
Others see it as good corporate leadership and a few think it’s about time.
“Well, you know wages have stagnated for the last 30 years I believe. So, to see an increase to the lower end of the working public is a positive move,” Don Vallaster said.
Still others worry it will raise other prices.
“I'm sure that as the price goes up- other things will go up,” Alison Topliff said. “But it will probably help those people who are working and in jobs with that lower income, be able to pay for things they need for their family.”
Amazon said its minimum wage hike will not raise prices and that the raise will extend to other brands it owns including Whole Foods.
By the way, the warehouse in Troutdale is hiring. Amazon’s link to the hiring site is here.