Amazon has announced an expansion in B.C. and Vancouver that will bring five new buildings and over 2,000 jobs to the area.
The expansion includes a new fulfillment centre, sortation centre and three delivery stations. Moreover, Amazon says the new jobs with be safe and offer “competitive pay, industry-leading benefits and career growth opportunities.”
Amazon’s 450,000 square-foot fulfillment centre will open in the Port of Vancouver in late 2021. Amazon notes the centre will be its first robotics fulfillment centre in the province and will create 1,000 jobs. The sortation centre will open in the city of Langley in late 2021, creating over 500 jobs.
One of the delivery stations included in Amazon’s announcement is in Langley Township, and it opened in mid-February, creating 200 jobs. The other two delivery stations will open later this year in Pitt Meadows and Delta, creating “hundreds of jobs” and “hundreds of career opportunities.”
Amazon notes that full-time employees in B.C. get starting hourly wages at $16 as well as medical, vision and dental coverage, a group RRSP plan, stock awards and performance-based bonuses starting “day one.”
However, Amazon also has a tendency to contract work out to other companies, especially when it comes to delivery operations. It’s a critical difference that could stick employees working the same positions without the extra benefits awarded to full-time staff.
Amazon also recently came under fire after it denied that employees urinated in bottles while on the job. Documents revealed that management was aware of both the urination practice and of employees defecating in bags while on the job.
Image credit: Amazon
Source: Amazon
