Amazon, which has been criticized for its labor policies and is engaged in a contentious union dispute, has announced that it will spend almost $1 billion increasing hourly worker wages in the US, as reported first by Engadget.
With the hike, the starting wage for the majority of front-line warehouse and transportation personnel will be over $19 per hour, while the starting wage for staff in fulfillment and other areas will increase to $16 per hour.
However, the company's hourly minimum salary will stay at $15.
Anytime Pay Program
Additionally, Amazon is making its "Anytime Pay" program available to all employees, enabling them to receive up to 70% of their qualified pay whenever they want without incurring any fees instead of just once or twice a month.
The company also introduced a new development program, allowing workers to move up to engineering positions after 12-14 months of training.
"Front-line employees across customer fulfillment and transportation will now earn, on average, more than $19 per hour in the U.S., and they also have access to a growing range of comprehensive benefits to support themselves and their families," John Felton, Amazon's senior vice president of Worldwide Operations, said in the company's press release.
Amazon Intelligence Initiative
Amazon also introduced another development program called Amazon Intelligence Initiative, building on its goal to provide career advancement options for 300,000 employees through 2025.
This career development program aims to place participants in technical positions at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where they will manage the company's Dedicated Cloud regions.
Amazon said that a 12- to 14-month technical skill development program will be completed by employees. These engineers then participate in numerous on-the-job rotations alongside top AWS engineers to obtain real-world experience.
The Amazon Intelligence Initiative offers participants full-time employment with compensation and benefits during their training. Employees are assigned to the most suitable roles once their time in the program is over, according to Amazon.
Amazon is the second-largest employer in the US, behind Walmart, with about 1.5 million employees. Most of them work as hourly retail employees at Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, as well as in deliveries or warehouses.
The "transportation and warehousing" industry pays an average of $28.10 per hour, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, whereas the average hourly wage in the US is $32.36.
An estimated 8,000 employees at a factory in Staten Island decided to unionize in April of this year, and Amazon was unsuccessful in its initial request for a re-vote. Additionally, the company is under investigation by the House committee over a tragic warehouse collapse during a tornado that killed six workers.
The panel charged Amazon with "obstructing" the investigation in June by withholding crucial records about an internal review.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
