Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday renewed his attacks against Amazon, sharing videos on Twitter that accuse the company of using “Orwellian language.”
“Listen to how Amazon uses its own lingo to blur the distinction between billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos and the average Amazon employee making minimum wage, according to journalist @J_Bloodworth,” Sanders tweeted as he shared one of the videos.
In one of the videos, James Bloodworth, the author of a book detailing working conditions at Amazon, starts off by saying, “The kind of language that the company used — a kind of Orwellian language to blur the distinction between you as a worker and what the management were doing.”
{mosads}“You weren’t allowed to call the warehouse a warehouse. You had to call it a fulfillment center,” he says. “You weren’t allowed to call each other workers or bosses. You had to call everyone associates. Presumably this was something done to blur the distinction between Jeff Bezos, who earns billions of pounds a year, and the average order picker, who earns minimum wage.”
Sanders last week introduced a bill that would charge large companies for the federal welfare programs that support their low-wage workers. He mentioned Bezos in a separate tweet Monday about the legislation.
Sanders said in a statement last week that “the American people are tired of subsidizing multi-billionaires” as he introduced the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act, or Stop BEZOS Act.
“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the 3 wealthiest people in America own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent and when 52 percent of all new income goes to the top one percent, the American people are tired of subsidizing multi-billionaires who own some of the largest and most profitable corporations in America,” Sanders said.
In August, Amazon pushed back against Sanders’s assertions that the company mistreats its workers.
“In addition to highly competitive wages and a climate controlled, safe workplace, Amazon provides employees with a comprehensive benefit package including health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, and company stock,” the company said.