Amazon raised the overtime pay of U.S. warehouse workers. It is because as they were wrestling with a deluge of orders from people staying in homes during the Corona virus pandemic. The online retailer said warehouse workers would receive twice their hourly rate until May 9, rather than one-and-a-half hours of working 40 hours every week .The temporary overtime pay increase has inherit effect from March 15, the corporate said. Amazon has announced that it'll increase wages into double in an hour by the top of April. The announcement comes after four US senators sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking how the corporate was protecting the health and safety of its warehouse workers during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Workers at fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations said the corporate wasn't doing enough to stop the virus from spreading. They signed a memorandum demanding dangerous wages, paid leave , paid child care, reduced productivity, and therefore the closure of any facility where an employee is affected. Days ago, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Queens, New York, received a text saying one among their colleagues tested positive for coronavirus.
The senators through the letter said, “While many traditional brick-and-mortar stores are experiencing hardships due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Amazon has seen its demand skyrocket, causing Amazon to announce that it will hire an additional 100,000 employees to help meet increased demand,” they added that, "We write today to strongly urge you to prioritize the health, safety and well-being of your employees.”
While announcing the temporary payment raise Amazon added to the employees, "We understand the past few weeks has been a very challenging time. Everyone has done an incredible job coming together to help our customers and communities during this unprecedented event. We want to continue to support you during this time where many services you might depend on are no longer available due to closures.”
Anyways the employees might have happy for the payment raise. But more preventive measures should be taken by Amazon to protect them from the outbreak.