Amazon plans to give its frontline employees who help it through the busy holiday shopping season a special bonus (via CNET). The company will give full-time US employees who work December 1st through to December 31st an extra $300 at the end of the year, while those who log part-time hours over that same period will get $150. All told, the bonuses will total $500 million, and build on the $500 million in one-time bonuses the company gave out in June.
The announcement comes on the same day that Amazon warehouse workers in 15 different countries said they would protest for better pay and safer working conditions on Black Friday. Whether a one-time $300 bonus, at a time when Amazon is making record profits, will mollify the company’s US workers is hard to say.
Despite Amazon’s claims, most evidence points to the fact that its warehouses aren’t the safest place to work. At the start of October, Amazon said nearly 20,000 of its employees in the US tested positive for COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, its employees have consistently asked it to implement better protective measures. A potentially life-changing disease is not the only thing those employees have to worry about either. A recent report found that Amazon warehouse workers suffer serious injuries more often during Prime Day and the holiday shopping season due to a significant increase in workload.
via https://AiUpNow.com November 26, 2020 at 08:30PM by , Khareem Sudlow,
