Online giant Amazon has announced a pay rise for its operational staff.
The minimum starting pay for frontline operations employees will increase to between £13.50 and £14.50 an hour, depending on location.
For those with 36 months’ service, the increase will be to between £13.75 and £14.75 an hour.
Amazon said the increase was worth at least 9.8 per ecnt and will be effective from September 29, benefiting tens of thousands of its employees across the UK, including delivery staff and those based in fulfilment centres.
The company, which has recently been embroiled in a union recognition dispute with the GMB, said it has invested £550 million in increased pay for its UK operations employees since 2022, representing a 35 per cent increase in the hourly rate in that period.
It added that from day one, all employees are offered a benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals and an employee discount, which it estimated was worth more than £700 a year.
Amazon UK’s country manager John Boumphrey said: “Our frontline employees across the UK Operations network are a huge part of the success of our business and we appreciate everything they do to deliver for our customers.
“That’s why we’re proud to announce that we’re increasing our minimum starting pay for all frontline employees to the equivalent of more than £28,000 a year, and we continue to offer industry-leading benefits from day one.”
Rachel Fagan, GMB organiser, said: “This is too little, too late from Amazon bosses who have been forced to act by workers’ industrial action.
“Amazon’s reputation is in the gutter over its treatment of its own workers, and now company bosses are trying to plaster over the facts.”
By Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent