From the BBC:
“Amazon set to hire 75,000
workers in US and Canada”
Online retail giant Amazon has
said it is hiring 75,000 workers across the US and Canada to meet growing
demand as the pandemic continues. The new jobs offered across transport and its
warehouses will be permanent roles. It will also offer new staff who have
already been vaccinated against Covid-19 a $100 (£71.19) bonus, it said in a
statement. A spokesperson said the firm had an "unwavering commitment to
safety". The retailer said that the jobs, which are already being
advertised, will offer average starting pay of $17 per hour - following recent
wage increases it introduced.
Amazon also said it would offer
sign-on bonuses of up to $1,000 in some locations to attract new staff. Figures
released last week showed that the US economy added far fewer jobs than
expected in April, with some analysts saying that firms were finding it harder
to recruit people. Amazon now employs more than one million workers worldwide,
having gone on a huge hiring spree during the pandemic. In the UK, for example,
it added 10,000 jobs last year. As consumers stayed at home during lockdown,
the retailer had its most lucrative year to date in 2020. But it also faced
allegations over poor working conditions, as well strikes at warehouses in the
US, Italy and Germany.
The Retail, Wholesale and
Department Store Union (RWDSU), which organised an effort in Alabama to form
the first unionised Amazon warehouse in the US, hit out after the latest hiring
announcement. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, said: "Amazon has
to keep hiring because of the extraordinary turnover at all of its warehouses. "No
matter what they pay people, it doesn't compensate for the way they treat
people and the unsatisfactory working conditions at Amazon facilities - and
people keep leaving these jobs." Amazon has insisted that it ensures
workers' health and safety. In many of its US warehouses across Missouri,
Nevada and Kansas, it has organised on-site vaccination events as the rate of
jabs being delivered has slowed in recent weeks.
Other companies have also sought
to promote Covid vaccinations. McDonald's announced on Tuesday that in the US
it would start printing "We can do this" slogans, alongside links to
websites with further information about vaccines, on its coffee cups. Consumer
giant Unilever will also be giving away milkshakes and ice creams to healthcare
workers and those getting vaccinated across several US sites on 14 May.
^ It seems home-buying from
Amazon is not just a Covid Pandemic Phase. ^
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