Amazon will increase the base pay for its employees to $15 per hour and will lobby the federal government to pass a minimum pay hike, the e-commerce giant said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said. “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”
The company will also advocate for a minimum wage increase that “will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country,” said Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs.
The pay hike will go into effect on Nov. 1 for over 350,000 Amazon employees, including full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers.
The news comes as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and others sharpen their attacks on Bezos, the world’s richest man, for not paying Amazon workers enough enough.
The one-time Democratic presidential candidate this year used a report that said thousands of Amazon employees relied upon a federal nutrition assistance program to push legislation that would impose a tax on employers equal to the amount of federal benefits its workforce receives. Sanders’ bill would apply to corporations with more than 500 employees.
Amazon became the second U.S. business this year to cross the $1 trillion valuation mark. The company — which also owns Whole Foods — has revolutionized online shopping and sent competitors scrambling to bolster their own e-commerce operations.
Alongside Sanders, Bezos has also faced criticism from President Trump, who claimed earlier this year that the U.S. Postal Service unfairly subsidizes package deliveries from Amazon. Bezos owns the Washington Post, an outlet that routinely publishes unflattering stories of the administration.
