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Collective Action Prevails, Even Against Corporate Giant Amazon

The workers’ fight mirrors the fight taking place across the country by overlooked and underpaid workers who are tired of being pushed around and silenced.
Photo Credit: Win McNamee / Getty
Collective Action Prevails, Even Against Corporate Giant Amazon
By Pete Levine ·

Thousands of working people made their voices heard as Amazon announced today that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

In a statement, AFSCME President Lee Saunders applauded the hard-won gains of Amazon employees, saying, “Amazon’s decision to raise wages for its workers is a testament to the power of collective action.”

The workers’ fight, noted Saunders, mirrors the fight taking place across the country by overlooked and underpaid workers who are tired of being pushed around and silenced. The Fight for $15, of which AFSCME has been a proud supporter, is about much more than a bigger paycheck. It’s about the dignity that comes with having a voice on the job.

“The thousands of working people who have joined together to demand $15 and a union should take pride in this victory,” noted Saunders, “and working families everywhere must keep up the pressure for a seat at the table and a union contract.”

While it’s hard to understand why it’s taken a company valued at a trillion dollars, owned by the world’s wealthiest person, so long to pay its employees a fair wage, what’s clear is that when workers band together to make their voices heard, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish.

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