Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declined a request to discuss issues around income inequality before the Senate Budget Committee, the company confirmed to CNBC.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, invited Bezos to appear on the committee as part of a hearing on income inequality scheduled for March 17.
Bezos faced criticism from Sanders and other lawmakers for their labor practices during the coronavirus pandemic, including the end of the hazard pay for frontline workers, while Amazon was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the pandemic boom in e-commerce.
“I invited Jeff Bezos to testify at the Budget Committee next week to explain to the American people why he thinks it is appropriate to spend a lot of money denying economic dignity to Amazon workers, while he became $ 78 billion richer during the pandemic,” wrote Sanders in a tweet.
The hearing, entitled “The Crisis of Income and Wealth Inequality in America,” will also include the testimony of Jennifer Bates, a worker at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, where employees are in the middle of a closely watched union vote.
Sanders is a frequent critic of Amazon and previously scanned the company for the pay gap between its top executives and employees who choose, pack and deliver packages at customers’ doorsteps. Following criticism from Sanders and other labor advocates, Amazon in 2018 announced that it would raise its minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.
An Amazon spokesman told CNBC in a statement that the company supports Sanders’ efforts to raise the federal minimum wage. “We fully support Senator Sanders’ efforts to reduce income inequality with legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour for all workers, as we did for ours in 2018,” said the spokesman.
Sanders also expressed support for workers at Amazon’s Bessemer facility, who are currently voting on joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The effort also received endorsements from several Democratic lawmakers, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and President Joe Biden.
Amazon has vehemently opposed the union effort. Last month, she held mandatory meetings with workers at the Bessemer factory defending the case against union membership. The company also created a website asking workers to “do this without paying anything”.