Date: December 18, 2018
Contact: mediacenter@freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org
Amazon’s “Sweet Deal” Allows The Company To Avoid Paying Their Flex Drivers Minimum Wage And Deny Them Benefits
Amazon’s Flex drivers given no protection despite “extreme conditions.”
“From the company’s perspective, having a fleet of independent contractors to handle last-mile deliveries is a sweet deal: It doesn’t have to pay for benefits (and it doesn’t have to give Flex drivers the $15 minimum wage Jeff Bezos promised warehouse workers earlier this year). But wage issues have sparked discussions about whether the contractors’ status should change. At least one lawsuit has taken up this cause, claiming that Amazon violated the Fair Labor Standard Act by not ensuring Flexers earn minimum wage or providing overtime.” (TIME, “Amazon Is Paying People $20 an Hour to Deliver Packages Using Their Own Cars — and the Competition Is Cutthroat,” Julia Glum, 12.18.18)
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The Free & Fair Markets Initiative (FFMI) is a non-profit coalition of businesses, consumer advocacy groups, workers and community activists committed to scrutinizing and highlighting emerging market trends that are stifling competition and innovation, influencing federal and local government spending, putting consumer data in harm’s way and limiting consumer choice. For a list of members, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org/about-us/members/. For more information on the Free & Fair Markets Initiative, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org.
