(Reuters) -Amazon.com is elevating the pay of its success and transportation employees in the US by no less than $1.50 an hour and handing out free Prime memberships as advantages, it mentioned on Wednesday.
The corporate will spend over $2.2 billion on the hikes that may take the bottom salaries of hourly staff to greater than $22 an hour, and greater than $29 an hour together with advantages.
Amazon (NASDAQ:)’s determination comes as one of many greatest employers within the U.S. faces strain from warehouse employees for higher contracts and improved working circumstances.
In June, the Amazon Labor Union – the primary group of firm staff to prepare at a U.S. warehouse – voted to affiliate with the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of many largest U.S. labor unions.
The hikes will roll out beginning this month and will assist Amazon rent and retain employees because it heads into the important thing vacation season, sometimes the busiest purchasing interval of the yr.
The Prime membership will likely be added to the advantages bundle early subsequent yr.
Amazon employs greater than 800,000 full-time and contract staff within the success and transportation roles within the U.S., in keeping with the corporate. In 2018, it paid these staff a beginning wage of $15 per hour.
