E-retailer seeks more workers

AMAZON (亞馬遜公司) needs to hire 100,000people across the US to keep up with a crushof orders as the coronavirus spreads and keepsmore people at home and shopping online.

The online retailer said it had temporarily raisedpay by US$2 (HK$15.6) an hour through to the end ofApril for hourly employees.

That included workers at its warehouses, deliverycentres and Whole Foods grocery stores, all of whommake at least US$15 (HK$117) an hour. Employeesin the United Kingdom (英國) and other Europeancountries had a similar rise.

“We are seeing a signifi cant increase in demand,which means our labour needs are unprecedented for this time of year,” said Dave Clark, who overseesAmazon’s warehouse and delivery network.

Amazon said a surge of orders is putting itsoperations under pressure. It warned shoppers thatit could take longer than the usual two days to getpackages. It also said that many household cleaningsupplies were sold out and it is working to get more instock.

Earlier, Amazon told its hourly workers that theycould take as much time off as they wanted in March,although they would only be paid if they had earned timeoff.

Additionally, Amazon said it would pay hourlyworkers for up to two weeks if they contracted the virusor needed to be quarantined.

Amazon is already the second-largest US-basedemployer behind Walmart, with nearly 800,000 workersworldwide.

(This article is published on Junior Standard on 3 June 2020)

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