![[US] Amazon minimum wage impacts Whole Foods workers’ hours](http://globalpayrollassociation.com/cdn/shop/articles/bigstock--196322179_1200x.jpg?v=1552906960)
Whole Foods workers have had their hours cut since the introduction of Amazon’s $15 minimum wage, The Guardian reports.
Amazon introduced a $15 minimum wage for all employees from November 2018, including workers at Whole Foods, after pressure for a higher wage for warehouse staff. Amazon purchased the Whole Foods grocery chain in 2017.
As a result, wages to all Whole Foods employees paid under the $15 hourly minimum were increased to at least $15. Employees already receiving the minimum were given a $1 per hour increase and team leader pay was raised by $2.
Since this pay increase Whole Foods employees, speaking to The Guardian, said wider cuts have been made. The employees have had scheduled shifts reduced, a loss in income which has often cancelled out the benefit of the higher wage.
According to The Guardian’s previous reporting, a handful of Whole Foods workers united in September 2018 to form the group Whole Worker, with the intent of forming a union and supporting workers through the Amazon transition. Whole Worker publicly shared a mass email to Whole Foods employees throughout the United States.
In an email, to The Guardian, a Whole Worker spokesman said, “There are many team members working at Whole Foods today whose total compensation is actually less than what it was before the wage increase due to these labor reductions.”
A Whole Foods employee from Illinois provided work schedules from November to late January 2019 showing the decline in working hours for their department. The percentage of the store’s labour budget for that department appeared to remain the same.
The worker explained that when the $15 minimum wage requirement began, part-time hours at their store dropped from 30 to 21 hours a week, on average, and full-time hours went from 37.5 hours to 34.5 hours, “We just have to work faster to meet the same goals in less time,” they added. An internal email shared by the same employee from their department manager spoke of the universal shift cuts as “the direct result of guidance from our regional team”.
The schedule changes and labour budget at Whole Foods are similar to changes Amazon made after the wages of its warehouse staff increased to the $15 an hour minimum.
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Whole Foods workers have had their hours cut since the introduction of Amazon’s $15 minimum wage, The Guardian reports.
Amazon introduced a $15 minimum wage for all employees from November 2018, including workers at Whole Foods, after pressure for a higher wage for warehouse staff. Amazon purchased the Whole Foods grocery chain in 2017.
As a result, wages to all Whole Foods employees paid under the $15 hourly minimum were increased to at least $15. Employees already receiving the minimum were given a $1 per hour increase and team leader pay was raised by $2.
Since this pay increase Whole Foods employees, speaking to The Guardian, said wider cuts have been made. The employees have had scheduled shifts reduced, a loss in income which has often cancelled out the benefit of the higher wage.
According to The Guardian’s previous reporting, a handful of Whole Foods workers united in September 2018 to form the group Whole Worker, with the intent of forming a union and supporting workers through the Amazon transition. Whole Worker publicly shared a mass email to Whole Foods employees throughout the United States.
In an email, to The Guardian, a Whole Worker spokesman said, “There are many team members working at Whole Foods today whose total compensation is actually less than what it was before the wage increase due to these labor reductions.”
A Whole Foods employee from Illinois provided work schedules from November to late January 2019 showing the decline in working hours for their department. The percentage of the store’s labour budget for that department appeared to remain the same.
The worker explained that when the $15 minimum wage requirement began, part-time hours at their store dropped from 30 to 21 hours a week, on average, and full-time hours went from 37.5 hours to 34.5 hours, “We just have to work faster to meet the same goals in less time,” they added. An internal email shared by the same employee from their department manager spoke of the universal shift cuts as “the direct result of guidance from our regional team”.
The schedule changes and labour budget at Whole Foods are similar to changes Amazon made after the wages of its warehouse staff increased to the $15 an hour minimum.
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