Amazon refutes Bernie Sanders worker pay, food stamps claims

Sen. Bernie Sanders
Aaron P.
Bernstein/Getty Images

• Sen. Bernie Sanders recently announced a new plan to
  require corporations pay for employees’ federal assistance, a
  move the progressive lawmaker said would force companies to pay
  a livable wage.
• Sanders has made special example of Amazon, claiming
  the company’s employees do not receive enough pay and are
  forced to live on support from Supplemental Nutrition
  Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
• Amazon fired back at Sanders on Wednesday, calling the
  claims “inaccurate and misleading.”
• Amazon said Sanders was referring to a small subset of
  Amazon workers that chose part-time work and that employees
  revived adequate benefits and pay.

Amazon on Wednesday fired back at Sen. Bernie Sanders after
months of attacks from the progressive lawmaker on the retail
giant’s working conditions and pay.

“Senator Sanders continues to make inaccurate and
misleading accusations against Amazon,” the company
said in a statement.

Sanders, a former 2016 Democratic presidential candidate,

recently announced a plan that would require companies to pay
for the federal assistance received by their employees. He
singled out Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos as a primary example.

In a statement Friday, the senator said putting large
corporations on the hook for workers’ benefits would force
companies to pay a “livable wage” to employees.

“While Mr. Bezos is worth $155 billion and while his wealth
has increased $260 million every single day this year, he
continues to pay many Amazon employees wages that are so low that
they are forced to depend on taxpayer funded programs such as
food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing just to get by,”
Sanders said.

Workers at large companies like Amazon, McDonald’s,
Walmart, and others receive $150 million in federal aid, Sanders
said.

A petition
that implored Bezos to “pay your workers a living wage and
improve working conditions at Amazon warehouses ” received
more than 105,000 signatures as of Friday, according to Sanders’
office.

Sanders’ move comes after a
series of high-profile media reports about the
working conditions of Amazon warehouse employees.

Amazon strongly denied Sanders’ claims, saying all
employees received competitive pay and solid benefits. The
company took particular issue with the senator’s suggestion that
many employees were on “food stamps.”

“Senator Sanders’ references to SNAP, which hasn’t been
called ‘food stamps’ for several years, are also misleading
because they include people who only worked for Amazon for a
short period of time and/or chose to work part-time — both of
these groups would almost certainly qualify for SNAP,” Amazon
said.

The retailer also said that while Sanders “plays politics
and makes misleading accusations,” the company was investing in
new job-training programs for workers and improving benefits like
paid family leave.

In addition to written response, Amazon invited Sanders to
tour one of the company’s fulfillment centers and urged employees
to write to the senator about their experience working at the
retailer.

This is not the first time Amazon has become entangled in
politics this year. President Donald Trump also
waged a war of words against the company and Bezos in March
and April, calling for antitrust investigations and questioning
the company’s
relationship with the US Postal Service.