Amazon is bumping its average national pay for contracted delivery drivers to roughly $22 an hour, up from $20.50 an hour, the company said Thursday. The wage increase is part of Amazon’s $2.1 billion investment this year into its delivery service partner program, which are the legions of contracted firms that handle last-mile delivery of packages from the company’s warehouses to shoppers’ doorsteps. The company’s announcement comes as it faces a renewed unionization effort among its contracted delivery workers. Beryl Tomay, Amazon’s vice president of transportation, wrote in a blog post that many DSPs are “already paying well above” $22 an hour. The increased rates will continue to support DSPs “in their efforts to recruit and retain high-performing teams.” Amazon announced the pay bump at the same time that it is hosting an annual, closed-door conference for those delivery contractors, called Ignite Live, in Las Vegas. The company made a similar announcement at last year’s…
