Amazon told shareholders Thursday that it made nearly $78 billion in net income during 2025 — while workers at its subsidiary Whole Foods Market say they struggle to afford basic necessities due to unlivable working wages.
Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017 and now employs over 100,000 workers nationwide offering a starting wage of $17 an hour. Philadelphia Whole Foods workers organized a union in January 2025 and its members claim their employer’s parent company —founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos — has violated labor law, illegally retaliated against workers and rejected and delayed bargaining with the union for better wage agreements.
“Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos is worth over $240 billion and Whole Foods executives are paid tens of millions of dollars a year. We, the workers of Whole Foods, are generating a significant portion of their wealth, but we continue to be squeezed. They have eroded our culture and increasingly treat us more like numbers than humans,” Rob Jennings, a Philadelphia Whole Foods worker and member the union, Whole Foods Workers United, said in a statement.
“Each new change chips away at our agency while they focus relentlessly on the bottom line. This evolution is not good for us and it’s not good for our customers and communities. We’re tired of being run ragged and taken for granted,” Jennings added. “Amazon Whole Foods is trying to silence our collective voice, but we’re continuing to fight for what’s legally ours: our union of united Whole Foods workers.”
The union’s website states that many Amazon Whole Foods workers can’t afford healthcare, housing, food, childcare and other basic needs due to receiving what they call an unlivable wage. The starting wage of $17 an hour is equivalent to an annual salary of $35,360 — just over the federal poverty line for a family of four.
Bezos, on the other hand, has two superyacht vessels priced at $500 million and $75 million, according to the New York Post, and has joined exclusive dinners with the likes of Elon Musk, Larry Page, Bill Gates and Jeffery Epstein, per the Guardian.
The unionized workers are pushing to negotiate a contract that includes a “living wage;” “affordable health care and benefits;” “[a]dequate staffing” to mitigate stress, prevent injuries and better serve customers as well as “Safe working conditions and fair treatment for all employees,” according to its website.
“As previously stated, we strongly disagree with the Regional Director’s conclusion, and as demonstrated throughout the hearing last year, including with first-hand testimony from various witnesses, the UFCW 1776 illegally interfered with our Team Members’ right to a fair vote at our Philly Center City Store,” a Whole Foods Market spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The spokesperson added that all employees of the Amazon-owned grocery chain receive benefits including a 20% discount on items purchased in Whole Foods stores — as well as retirement, savings, education and mental health benefits.
This is attributable to a Whole Foods Market spokesperson, but no quotations. All Whole Foods Market Team Members (full and part-time) receive employment benefits, including our industry-leading 20% in-store discount, our 401K plan with company match, an Emergency Savings Plan, tuition-free education programs, on-demand mental health support, and discounts at third parties.
Amazon has come under fire for alleged substandard working conditions in recent years, with some employees claiming to feel like a cog-in-the-wheel of a massive machine. The company has also exposed its employees to hazardous conditions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
An October 2023 report from the Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) determined that 41% of Amazon workers have been injured on the job. A probe by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) committee in 2024 found that Amazon had manipulated workplace injury data to portray workplaces as safer than they truly are.
The staggering difference in the company’s success versus its worker’s struggles coincides with voters’ growing concerns of a growing gap between the middle class and the rich, as shown by a CBS News/YouGov poll released Thursday. Some Americans even find reaching middle class status unobtainable in today’s world, according to a January New York Times (NYT) poll.
Whole Foods sales have increased 40% since 2017 and Amazon has expanded to over 550 locations nationally. In late january, Amazon announced plans to open over 100 Whole Foods stores over the next few years and convert some Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores into Whole Foods stores.
“Amazon’s financial success has been fantastic for shareholders, but disastrous for American workers. While Whole Foods workers make sure communities have groceries, Jeff Bezos hobnobs at exclusive billionaire dinners and takes his private jet to meet with President [Donald’ Trump,” Wendell Young IV, President of UFCW Local 1776, said in a statement. “Whole Foods customers should know that they are continuing to enrich one of the world’s richest men.”
Bezos is the fifth-richest person in the world as of Friday, according to Forbes. He remains the largest shareholder in Amazon.
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