Amazon Workers Get Pay Rise and Safety-Based Process Changes

Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 10:29 by David Aiken

Employees at Amazon’s warehouses in the UK are seeing their base rate of pay bumped up by a fifth as the e-commerce giant attempts to take action to keep its operations moving in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

With strikes seen on the continent as workers protest over pay and conditions, this move seems like a pre-emptive solution to any similar problems which could arise in Britain.

Furthermore, a spokesperson for the company said that it had made alterations to over a hundred of its internal warehouse procedures in order to make sure that the health and safety of workers was not compromised given the current viral crisis.

Amazon is reportedly following guidelines from the World Health Organisation in order to ensure that employees are not put at unnecessary risk while still being able to fulfil the needs of its millions of customers who want to carry out safe shopping online.

Amongst the changes that have been made, more regular cleaning and decontamination procedures have been put in place, and workers have also been supplied with personal protective equipment so that they are at a lower risk of contracting COVID-19 or passing it on to others.

Like a number of other retailers, Amazon has also taken steps to expand its workforce in order to account for the changes that it has been required to make in these unprecedented circumstances. 5000 positions have become available in the UK alone, with part-time roles sitting alongside full-time jobs as part of its extensive distribution network.

Even with the rise in online shopping that the pandemic has brought about, this is another sign that even e-commerce companies are having to make sacrifices and take action to stop front-line staff from suffering at the moment.