Amazon minimum pay rates are to rise for UK and US workers. In the US, the minimum wage for Amazon workers rises to $15 for all full-time, part-time, temporary (including those hired by agencies), and seasonal employees. In the UK, Amazon will pay £10.50 per hour in London, and £9.50 across the rest of the UK.
The new Amazon £10.50/£9.50 minimum wage applies to all UK employees at Amazon and its subsidiaries and is not performance based. All of Amazon’s hourly Operations and Customer Service employees will see an increase, including those who are already making £10.50/£9.50.
“We’re excited to announce Amazon is raising our minimum wage for all full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary UK employees—effective November 1. This will impact more than 37,000 employees across the country, resulting in higher pay for them and their families.”
– Doug Gurr, Amazon VP and UK Country Manager
UK employees will continue to receive Amazon’s benefits, including:
- Comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection
- Paid breaks
- Company pension plan
- Career Choice, an innovative programme that provides funding for adult education, offering to pre-pay 95% of tuition and associated fees for nationally recognised courses
- Career Skills, which trains hourly associates in critical job skills like resume writing, how to communicate effectively, and computer basics.
“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead. We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”
– Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO
Amazon minimum pay rates were previously £8.00 an hour in the UK and £8.20 in London so the pay rise represents a considerable percentage increase. In the US, the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago and $15 almost doubles this. The UK minimum wage for those over 25 is £7.83 per hour, or £7.38 for those under 25 so again Amazon are setting themselves aside as a relatively high paying employer compare to many others.
A couple of quid an hour might not seem like much to a company like Amazon, but with 17,000 UK employees and anything up to 20,000 seasonal workers it’s a massive increase for Amazon’s UK wage bill. In the US it will benefit 250,000 Amazon employees, as well as over 100,000 seasonal employees expected to be hired in the next quarter for the Black Friday and Christmas period.
In the US, Amazon’s public policy team will also begin advocating for an increase in the federal minimum wage.
“We will be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage. The current rate of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago. We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country.”
– Jay Carney, Senior Vice President, Amazon Global Corporate Affairs
One Response
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