Amazon Prime Now and Whole Foods are completely cutting hazard pay for their workers this coming Monday, May 18th.

We’re still required to wear masks, submit to temperature checks, aggressively sanitize our stores, and limit the amount of people in them.

But they’re still cutting our hazard pay.

Jeff Bezos, the owner of these companies, saw his net worth increase by 23.6 BILLION dollars due to this crisis.

But they’re still cutting our hazard pay.

My coworker of seven years died of COVID-19 last month. He worked in store sanitation, which is probably the most dangerous position right now: cleaning up discarded gloves, dealing with trash and recycling that has people's saliva on it, and sanitizing restrooms.

But they’re still cutting our hazard pay.

Enough is enough. Since Amazon acquired Whole Foods, it has cut healthcare for part-timers, a number of benefits, and now is refusing to pay us what we're worth during an international pandemic.

We need reasonable pay for working in this crisis, health insurance, and assurances that we aren’t going to be fired for seeking a living wage from the richest company in the world.

The company line so far has been that the extra $2/hour is a "Courtesy Pay" which isn't a thing. Actually, it is a thing, but only in the context of overdraft fees and the term has no basis in employee pay policies. Let's call it what it is: extra pay to work in an inherently unsafe environment.

The environment is still hazardous. Until this international emergency is over, pay workers accordingly. It's not much to ask.