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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hits back at Amazon's Twitter attack and accuses the company of relying on food stamps to 'make up for their low wages'

Jun 18, 2019, 19:57 IST

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Irene Jiang / Business Insider

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her attacks against Amazon on Monday, hours after the company blasted her on Twitter as "just wrong."

"1 in 10 of Amazon's Ohio employees were on food stamps after the company opened fulfillment centers in the state," she wrote. "Paying full-time employees so little that they require gov food assistance is what paying starvation wages means."

The feud between Amazon and Ocasio-Cortez began on Sunday, after the Democratic congresswoman from New York accused Amazon in a television interview of paying its workers "starvation wages" and said CEO Jeff Bezos became a billionaire in part by underpaying employees.

Amazon shared a link to her remarks on Monday morning and tweeted, "@AOC is just wrong. Amazon is a leader on pay at $15 min wage + full benefits from day one. We also lobby to raise federal min wage."

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Read more: 'AOC is just wrong': Amazon publicly condemns Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she slams Jeff Bezos' wealth

Ocasio-Cortez responded Monday evening in a tweet accusing Amazon of relying on food stamps to "make up for their low wages."

"From 'day one?' Really? 1 in 10 of Amazon's Ohio employees were on food stamps after the company opened fulfillment centers in the state," she tweeted. "Paying full-time employees so little that they require gov food assistance is what paying starvation wages means."

A few minutes later, she added: "If a person is working 40h/week & is paid so little that they need gov help to make ends meet, it's not the person that's a weight on our system - it's the company. People need to be paid a living wage. We stand up to co's that rely on food stamps to make up for their low wages."

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ocasio-Cortez's latest tweets. 

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Ocasio-Cortez has been an outspoken critic of Amazon in the past. She was blamed in part for Amazon's decision in February to cancel its planned second headquarters in New York City.

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