A worker loads customer orders onto a waiting tractor-trailer inside the million-square-foot Amazon distribution warehouse that opened last fall in Fall River, MA, on March 23, 2017.
John Tlumacki | Boston Globe | fake pictures
Amazon is providing frontline workers with a one-time bonus to “show appreciation” for employees who continue to work during the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Monday.
In a memo to employees, Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of retail operations, said the company will pay a $ 500 bonus to full-time warehouse, Whole Foods and delivery workers. Part-time workers will receive a $ 250 bonus, while Flex drivers who deliver packages to Amazon will receive $ 150 if they worked more than 10 hours in June. Whole Foods store managers will receive a $ 1,000 bonus, and owners of Amazon third-party delivery services will receive a $ 3,000 bonus.
“My thanks and gratitude for the truly remarkable commitment to customers you have shown throughout this journey,” Clark wrote in the memo. “I have never been so proud of our teams.”
The bonus applies to full-time and part-time workers who were with Amazon during the month of June, as well as teams in the US and Canada.
In March, Amazon announced that it would provide warehouse, delivery and Whole Foods workers with a $ 2 per hour pay increase, while warehouse workers would also be paid double overtime. Wage increases and double overtime pay ended in June.
Since then, workers have expressed frustration that their risk pay was declining even as the pandemic persists and they still face threats to their safety and health. Calling the situation “life and death,” a group of California-based Amazon workers has circulated a petition demanding reinstatement of risk pay, paid sick leave, and child care pay, among other things.
Amazon defended its decision to end wage increases and double overtime pay, saying that these premiums were announced to “help meet the increased demand” for online orders, which has since stabilized.
Tensions have risen between Amazon and warehouse workers across the country, and employees say the company has not done enough to protect them from the coronavirus. Amazon has previously said that every effort has been made to keep facilities clean and to ensure that employees follow necessary safety precautions, such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, practicing social distancing, and other measures.
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