World’s largest online retailer, Amazon has recently announced plans to create an additional 1800 jobs in tech and corporate roles in its Canadian offices by the end of 2021.
Amazon plans to have a sturdy presence in Canada, the next door neighbour to the United States where they originated from. Amazon initially planned to add 3500 jobs new tech and corporate jobs in Toronto and Vancouver and this means an additional hiring to establish a strong foothold in Canada.
“Amazon is proud to create good jobs that provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills and grow their careers while innovating on behalf of customers,” said Jesse Dougherty, Amazon VP and Vancouver site lead.
The planned hires will back teams in Amazon Web Services, Alexa, Amazon Advertising, and its Retail and Operations Technology division. Amazon currently has 1,500 Canadian positions open for roles related to software, data engineering, sales, and marketing. An Amazon spokesperson told BetaKit the company is so focused on expanding in Toronto and Vancouver given the “world-class universities” located in the two cities and the “strong talent pipeline” they sustain.
The retail firm currently employs over 23,000 full and part-time workers at the company’s fulfilment centres, corporate offices, development centres, and other facilities. Amazon has branches in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, and Québec.
According to the e commerce King, it invested about $11 billion CAD in the Canadian economy since 2010 to bolster its infrastructure and wages for its employees as well as created about 67,000 jobs.
In May, Amazon disclosed plans to expand its presence in British Columbia with five new locations thereby creating about 2000 jobs. In April, Amazon berthed its IP Accelerator program for Amazon sellers in Canada.
That same month also, they expanded into London, Ontario with the construction of two new warehouses. Two hundred jobs were created with about one hundred and thirty drivers needed for its operations.
Kapil Lakhotia, president and CEO of LEDC, told CBC News on Thursday the timing of the new warehouses puts the city in a prime economic position for a post-pandemic recovery.
“It’s significant for London in terms of job creation, especially during this difficult time with the pandemic underway.
“There are over 100 jobs projected at each location, which is great, especially as the region prepares for post-COVID recovery.”
The two warehouses would both be in the city’s east end — one on Huron Street and the other on Industrial Road.
Both buildings will be operational in a few months.
Amazon would not confirm local media reports that the company also plans to build a massive distribution centre in the area, to be located on the grounds of the former Ford Talbotville plant.
In a statement Thursday, a company spokesperson said there would be “no comment” on the media reports, which have been largely based on unnamed sources.
Last fall, the e-commerce giant opened two distribution centres in Ajax and Hamilton bringing the total of centres in Ontario to ten and sixteen all across Canada. It recently backed out of plans to build the largest distribution centre in Ontario for undisclosed reasons.
The Warehouse Workers Centre, a Brampton, Ont.-based organization representing people in the warehouse and logistics sector, started a petition earlier this year that garnered hundreds of signatures claiming “Amazon is failing to protect our health.”
The petition alleged that Amazon, which employs tens of thousands of people in Canada and has fulfilment centres in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, was refusing to give workers paid leave and not telling staff what their plans are if facilities are contaminated or suspected of being contaminated with COVID-19.
The petition claimed physical distancing at its facilities is “nearly impossible” and said some warehouse workers are now putting in 50 hours a week or more, which the petition called “unsustainable” and said needs to stop.
Amazon has spent more than $800 million on employee safety since the beginning of the year, Dougherty said.
The company has unveiled temperature checks, physical distancing measures and offered personal protective wear as part of that investment.
“The health of our employees is absolutely critical to us,” Doughtery said. It is our top priority, so we are always paying attention to how those systems are working and ensuring they are the best they can be.”
Amazon is also firmly rooted in the French speaking province of Quebec. Its first fulfilment centre has over 350 employees. “Amazon is tremendously proud to open our first fulfilment centre in Quebec, creating over 300 jobs in a safe, inclusive and innovative work environment, that has competitive pay and benefits starting on day one. This milestone will also allow us to better serve our local customers, along with the thousands of local small businesses that work with Amazon to bring their products to customers across the province and around the world,” said Jean-Francois Héroux, site leader for Amazon’s Lachine fulfilment centre.
“The arrival of Amazon consolidates the role of the Lachine industrial park in the Montreal logistics chain. Located between the airport, the marshalling yards and the port of Montreal, and with an occupancy rate of almost 95%, our industrial park is at the heart of Montreal’s transportation network,” said the Mayor of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic.
Ayoola Faseyi, an Abuja based Journalist with interest in Technology and Politics. He is a versatile writer with articles in many renowned News Journals.He is the Co-Founder of media brand, The Vent Republic.
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