Amazon announced today that it would award more than $500 million in one-time bonuses to its front-line employees in the U.S. in recognition of their services during the holiday season and the coronavirus pandemic. Operational employees that are employed from December 1 to December 31 will be entitled to receive a bonus of $300 if they"re working full time and $150 if they"re part-time workers.
The initiative brings the firm"s total spent on special bonuses and incentives to roughly $2.5 billion during this year, which includes a $500 million "thank you" bonus in June to workers that were most exposed to COVID-19.
However, Amazon has been facing intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over its treatment of workers and whether it"s doing enough to protect them from COVID-19. Vice reported today that the Seattle firm"s workers in 15 countries are planning to conduct strikes and protests on Black Friday, which is one of the biggest sales events of the year. By doing so, they intend on calling out Amazon to improve pay and safety conditions in addition to recognizing their rights to organize.