Amazon to pay $500 million in one-time bonuses to front-line workers

Amazon employees and partners will receive bonuses ranging from $150 to $3,000

Amazon said on Monday it would spend $500 million on one-time bonuses to its front-line employees and partners working through the coronavirus crisis.

Employees and partners who have been with the e-commerce company through June will receive bonuses ranging from $150 to $3,000, the company said in a blog post.

The world’s largest online retailer, which delivers about 10 billion items a year, has been facing intense scrutiny from US lawmakers and unions over whether it is doing enough to protect staff from the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Earlier in the day, workers at six Amazon sites in Germany decided to go on strike in protest over safety after some staff at logistics centers tested positive for coronavirus, labor union Verdi said on Sunday.

Amazon has faced a long-running battle with unions in Germany over better pay and conditions for logistics workers, who have staged frequent strikes since 2013.

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Amazon rejected the accusations in a statement and said that as of June it had invested $4 billion on measures to protect its global workforce and clients from the risk of Covid-19 infections.

In Germany, its biggest market after the United States, Amazon has since February ordered 470 million hand disinfection bottles, 21 million pairs of gloves, 19 million masks and other face protection gear and 39 million boxes of disinfectant wipes, said a spokesman for Amazon in Germany.