CEO and founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos
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Amazon made sure to mention it had "listened to our critics " when the company announced Tuesday it was raising the minimum wage for its workers to $15 an hour.
Indeed, Amazon's pay practices have faced a lot of scrutiny — Sen. Bernie Sanders has been one of the most visible and ardent critics of Amazon. Most recently, the senator introduced a bill to Congress named after CEO Jeff Bezos, and has criticized the company for its practices in terms of employee pay, benefits and safety.
But the flack Amazon has gotten hasn't come from Sanders alone. As the largest online retailer in the United States, the company has been subject to scrutiny from politicians, activist groups, and small businesses as it continues to grow.
Here's a look at the biggest criticisms leveled against Amazon in the past year:
August 2017: Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods further established its position as a corporation on the rise, and a target for criticisms of destroying small business while subjecting employees to poor working conditions and minimum wage.
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While you may appreciate how easy it is to turn to Amazon as a one-stop retailer you don't have to leave your couch to shop at, smaller businesses are struggling to keep up with the corporation. This situation was especially evident when Amazon acquired Whole Foods, sending other grocery chains scrambling to keep up.
Amazon's dominance over the retail industry isn't anything new. Bezos' company has expanded into a variety of other industries, including healthcare, athletic apparel, and home insurance. The ability for this supercorporation to send entire retail sectors into tailspins even has its very own name — getting "Amazon'd."
This retail takeover has contributed to the e-commerce giant's growing reputation as "a symbol of everything wrong with big business." Amazon's place in the Reputation Institute's ranking of popular companies has steadily fallen, and was pushed out of the top spot in the retail category by Barnes & Noble.
Many of the concerns that have been raised over the steady rise of Amazon were once aimed at Walmart. These two mega-retailers share a history of worrisome claims over their respective working cultures. Employees of bother retailers have — for years — recounted tales of brutal working conditions, intimidating workplace regimes, and poor pay practices.
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