Billionaires Add $1Trillion To Net Worth During Pandemic As Their Workers Struggle

[appalachiablue]

- 'Billionaires add $1tn to net worth during pandemic as their workers struggle.'- The Guardian, Jan. 15, 2021. Companies’ attempts at hazard pay have been paltry and fleeting as employees are threatened for protesting working conditions. - Ed:

Billionaires in the US have increased their net worth by more than $1tn during the coronavirus pandemic, while many of their US workers have struggled with coronavirus risks in workplaces, for little to no extra pay to work in hazardous conditions, and millions of other Americans have struggled to survive on unemployment.

The Amazon CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, added more than $70bn to his net worth during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which is now nearly $185bn. As Amazon’s sales have soared, workers at Amazon and Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods have protested against unsafe working conditions and the pressures to keep up with demand. Several workers who participated in or led protests at Amazon over working conditions have alleged they were fired in retaliation and Amazon is fighting federal complaints alleging at least two of the firings violated US labor laws.

Profits and stockholder shares have soared through 2020 by billions of dollars, but Amazon has only provided a fraction of those extra earnings in hazard pay and bonuses to workers, according to an analysis conducted by the Brookings Institution. Amazon ended hazard pay in June 2020, and instead have provided sporadic one-time bonuses to workers during the pandemic. On average, Amazon workers have seen a $0.99-an-hour pay bump during the pandemic, compared with Bezos’s hourly wealth increase of $11.7m.

“What they considered hazard pay was just for show,” said an Amazon warehouse employee in Baltimore, Maryland who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “We couldn’t see a difference unless we were willing to work almost 60 hours a week. Several of us had no choice because we’re the breadwinners of our family. It’s infuriating that we live in fear every day because of minimal efforts to protect us, while executives take in tons of money while sitting safely at home.” A Whole Foods employee for 4 years in Redwood City, California quit in October due in part to burnout from working conditions during the pandemic. “They gave us hazard pay for maybe a couple months. It was only $2 and they literally took it away as the pandemic got worse....

More,

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/15/billionaires-net-worth-coronavirus-pandemic-jeff-bezos-elon-musk

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. What's the point of accumulating "0"s in your bank account...

when money has already bought you the life you want?

[appalachiablue]

3. I can't imagine. From the article: I wonder if Amazon's

'bonus to workers' is paid in company scrip and not cash so the funds stay with Amazon. I wouldn't be surprised.

Walmart was caught paying workers in scrip some years back in Mexico, and 'company towns' are making a comeback, around Silicon Valley, etc.

> "Amazon ended hazard pay in June 2020, and instead have provided sporadic one-time bonuses to workers during the pandemic."

[Irish_Dem]

4. It is a money addiction, no amount is ever enough.

Look at Kelly Loeffler. Richest person in the Senate.
Has more money than she can spend in her lifetime.
She could have gone to the Senate and thought about using her position to give something back to the country that has given her every luxury. Instead she used a classified briefing about Covid as an opportunity to make even more money, rather than focus on
the American people.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. It really comes down to the perfect races.

Vote Republican Individual Corruption or for an All-American Democratic agenda?

[Irish_Dem]

7. That is why the GOP has to lie all the time, and cheat with voter suppression, etc.

[Blue Owl]

2. Thanks Donald

[BigmanPigman]

6. Reverse the tRump tax code,

then make the 1% pay for all the accumulated costs and financial losses related to Covid. Tax them 50% and that should put a dent into overall costs.