Amazon pledges to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2024 after facing backlash over employee safety during COVID
Amazon plans to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2024 with a starting wage of $15 per hour and benefits, the online retailer giant announced on Tuesday.
The company said it currently employs more than 40,000 veterans and military spouses in the US across its many businesses. As of March, Amazon had 1.3million workers on its payroll worldwide.
The news comes after months of negative PR for Amazon, which has faced a backlash for opposing unionization at some of its facilities and was sued earlier this year by New York State for allegedly failing to protect its employees during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Amazon has announced a plan to hire 84,000 veterans and 16,000 military spouses with a starting wage of $15 per hour, plus benefits
Amazon currently employs more than 40,000 veterans and spouses in US
Amazon had 1.3million workers on its payroll worldwide as of March. Pictured: a delivery worker pulls a cart full of Amazon packages in New York on June 21
Amazon shares were slightly up in early Tuesday morning trading
Amazon expected to hire at least 84,000 veterans and 16,000 spouses in the next two-and-a-half years, after surpassing its 2016 pledge to hire 25,000 former service members and their families by 2021.
'Amazon is focused on recruiting and developing military talent with training programs specifically designed to help veterans transition into roles in the private sector,' stated John Quintas, Amazon’s director of global military affairs. 'We value the unique skills and experience that the military community brings—and our new hiring commitment will expand the impact that military members currently have on every single business across the company.'
Amazon said veterans and their spouses can take advantage of its many training programs for free, including the nine-month Amazon Technical Academy, which teaches workers skills that would allow them to transition into well-paying software engineering careers.
Amazon has faced negative publicity over its response to the coronavirus pandemic
Amazon's treatment of workers has been a hot-button issue in recent months, including heightened productivity requirements and injury rates
The company said all of its jobs pay a starting wage of at least $15 per hour - more than twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 - and all full-time workers get health insurance, retirement benefits and 20 weeks of paid parental leave.
Amazon currently has more than 35,000 positions open in the US.
'Amazon has an important role to play when in ensuring that our military veterans have access to good jobs,' Quintas told Fox Business.
Recognizing veterans' leadership and technical skills, companies have been aggressively recruiting former service members in recent years, resulting in the unemployment rate among the 19 million veterans in the US to plummet from more than 6 per cent in 2013 to just over 3 per cent in 2019.
In 2011, JP Morgan Chase launched the Veterans Jobs Mission with an initial goal of hiring 100,000 veteran by the end of 200,000.
Over the past decade, hundreds of companies, including Amazon, have joined the initiative, hiring nearly 700,000 veterans.
In Forbes Magazine's 2020 list of America's Best Employers for Veterans, Amazon came in at No 91 out of 150.
Contract drivers for Amazon have complained about having to pee in bottles on the job and running stop signs to meet their daily quotas
Quintas has not commented on the timing of the veterans' hiring spree, but the announcement comes after months of unfavorable publicity for the e-commerce juggernaut.
In February, New York Attorney general Letitia James, the state's top prosecutor, accused Amazon of displaying a 'flagrant disregard' for health and safety laws in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company was also accused of retaliating against employees who spoke out about about unsafe working conditions by firing them.
Amazon attempted to block New York's lawsuit, arguing in court that James did not have the legal authority to sue the company.
Amazon's treatment of workers has been a hot-button issue in recent months, including heightened productivity requirements and injury rates.
Amazon's contract delivery drivers have described having to pee in bottles on the job due to lack of access to bathrooms, and running stop signs to meet their daily quotas.
The company responded to the complaints by saying it was not responsible for the actions of contractors.