September 30, 2022: -Amazon is raising its hourly wages for its warehouse and delivery workers, the company stated.

Beginning in October, Amazon’s average starting pay for front-line employees in the U.S. will be bumped up to over $19 per hour from $18 per hour, the group said.

Storage and delivery workers will acquire amid $16 and $26 per hour depending on their position, Amazon further said. Amazon’s minimum wage for U.S. employees remains $15 an hour.

Amazon is spending around $1 billion on pay hikes over the next year as it looks to attract and retain employees in a historically tight labor market. It’s also training to enter the “peak” season, the hectic shopping period tied to the holidays.

Tensions have been increasing between Amazon and its front-line workforce, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Employees have called for wage increases, more paid time off, and adjustments to productivity expectations.

Workers at several Amazon facilities have taken steps to organize. Earlier this year, workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Staten Island, New York, successfully voted to form the company’s first U.S. union. Next month, Amazon faces another union election at a site near Albany, New York.

The company said that it planned to raise pay and benefits for drivers employed by members of its contracted delivery network, which handles a growing share of its last-mile deliveries to customers’ doorsteps.

Alongside the pay increase, Amazon stated it’s also expanding a payday advance schedule for its employees that allows them to access up to 70% of their eligible earned income whenever they choose and without fees, not just on a schedule, such as a biweekly basis.