- Amazon expects driver pay to rise to almost $22 an hour
- The Teamsters have targeted contract firms for unionization
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By Matt Day
September 13, 2024 at 01:12 GMT+7
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Amazon.com Inc. plans to spend an additional $2.1 billion on its contract delivery program, including safety programs, training and additional pay for the contracting firms.
The company says it expects the outlays to raise average pay for drivers, who pilot Amazon-branded vans but technically work for independent companies that Amazon calls Delivery Service Partners, to almost $22 an hour, up 7% from a year earlier.
Contractors and their teams “go to great lengths to take care of Amazon customers, and that’s why we want to support DSPs with our biggest investment yet,” Beryl Tomay, an Amazon vice president, said in a blog post announcing the move.
Amazon tends to announce increased outlays for the program annually. The additional $2.1 billion will be spent in the US and Canada in 2025.
The company’s contract delivery model, which is similar to that used by FedEx Corp., has been criticized by labor groups that claim it helps the company shirk responsibility for drivers. Multiple National Labor Relations Board officials have argued that Amazon is a co-employer of DSP drivers who made claims against the company. The subcontracted delivery companies are also a focus of organizing efforts by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has vowed to unionize Amazon workers.
Amazon has recently been expanding a variant of its contract delivery program that has contract drivers deliver smaller loads of packages in Kia Souls, rather than larger cargo vans.