Amazon raises its minimum wage in US to $15/hour
San Francisco, Oct 2 : Amazon.com on Tuesday said it was raising the minimum wage for all its US employees to $15 an hour, starting from November 1.
The move comes after the company faced criticism about the pay and benefits for its warehouse workers.
The new minimum wage will cover more than 2,50,000 current employees and 1,00,000 seasonal holiday employees.
The tech giant said it will also start lobbying for an increase in the federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour, Efe news reported.
"We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead," Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive, Amazon, said in a statement.
"We're excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us."
Amazon's sheer size and market dominance -- it recently became the second US company to notch a market value of $1 trillion -- has made it a favoured corporate target of politicians on the left and right.
The company has been criticised over the way it treats its workers and how much it pays in taxes, as well as its impact on the broader economy and traditional retailers.
Senator Bernie Sanders recently introduced a bill aimed at taxing big companies whose employees rely on federal benefits to make ends meet.
He specifically targeted Bezos by contrasting his vast personal wealth with the compensation of the company's lowest-paid workers.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
