National Consumers League applauds Amazon’s commitment to increasing minimum wage
October 3, 2018
Media contact: National Consumers League – Carol McKay, carolm@nclnet.org, (412) 945-3242 or Taun Sterling, tauns@nclnet.org, (202) 207-2832
Washington, DC–The National Consumers League (NCL) today applauded Amazon’s decision to provide a $15 minimum wage for all employees, including associates employed by temporary agencies. The following statement is attributable to NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg:
“We laud Amazon, a very large and influential company for its leadership. This decision affects more than 250,000 Amazon employees, as well as more than 100,000 seasonal holiday employees. The increase will be a boon to workers’ families. We want specifically to thank Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, not only for his leadership at Amazon, but for encouraging Amazon’s competitors and other large employers to ‘join us’ in increasing minimum wages across the board.
“NCL’s early leaders wrote some of the first minimum wage laws in the United States, so this is of particular significance to us. We are especially gratified to learn that Amazon will join the call for increasing the federal minimum wage, which has been stagnant since 2009 at a paltry $7.25 an hour. This campaign needs the boost that Amazon’s support will provide.
“Thanks as well to Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of Amazon Global Corporate Affairs, for his remarks underscoring the impact of a minimum wage increase across America. It will indeed have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country, whose hard work and many hours on the job yields far less than a livable wage at current levels.”
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
