Amazon eliminating monthly bonuses & stock awards to help pay new raises for warehouse workers

Amazon is eliminating monthly bonuses and stock awards for warehouse workers and other hourly employees, apparently to help pay for raises. The internet retail giant pledged earlier this week to raise pay to at least $15 an hour.

Bloomberg spoke to sources familiar with Amazon's pay policies who say that before this week's much-publicized minimum pay increase, workers used to be eligible for monthly bonuses that might add up to hundreds of dollars each month, and they could receive potentially valuable stock awards.

Sure would be interesting if the workers of Amazon.com decided to unionize.

From Bloomberg:

The company informed those employees Wednesday that it's eliminating both of those compensation categories to help pay for the raises, the people said.

Amazon received plaudits when it announced Monday that the company would raise its minimum pay. The pay increase warded off criticism from politicians and activists, and put the company in a good position to recruit temporary workers for the important holiday shopping season.

Even after the elimination of bonuses and stock awards, hourly operations and customer-service workers will see their total compensation increase, the company said in a statement.

"In addition, because it's no longer incentive-based, the compensation will be more immediate and predictable," Amazon said.

Workers whose pay was already above $15 per hour will get hourly raises of $1, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing the company's compensation practices. Some long-time workers expressed frustration that their raises are small compared with newly hired workers who will see hourly pay bumps of as much as 40 percent.

And it's still not clear if the raise policy applies to contractors. The new $15 pay minimum will apply to temps; it's not clear whether that covers contractors and subcontractors.