Amazon employs 30,000 seasonal workers in California

With the holiday shopping frenzy around the corner, Amazon is ramping up its workforce, and this week announced plans to hire 30,000 seasonal workers at its distribution centers in California.

The effort is part of a broader hiring push by the e-commerce giant to add 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal roles in the United States.

The California jobs will include about 3,000 openings in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim, and 8,000 in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario, the company said.

Amazon said many of its seasonal roles can be converted to year-round jobs with benefits.

“Seasonal Amazon jobs offer competitive pay, flexible schedules, and the opportunity to be a part of the retail industry during one of the busiest times of the year,” the company said in its news release about the hiring effort.

Amazon spokeswoman Carly Levy said regular full- and part-time employees earn an average of $23 an hour with benefits, and seasonal employees who don’t receive benefits earn an average of about $19 an hour.

Levy said the number of seasonal positions that are converted to permanent positions will depend on the company’s operational needs in the coming months.

Experts and labor advocates have said seasonal and other warehouse work in the Amazon can be difficult and physically demanding, with increased risks during peak seasons due to a flood of new, inexperienced workers, as well as heightened pressure to meet quotas.

“You get a lot of people who don’t make career transitions and you get people who choose seasonal work,” said Bilal Qasim, an attorney and co-founder of the Oakland-based firm Pacific Workers. “People who are not used to working out are more likely to get injured.”

Qasim recommends that new workers familiarize themselves with safety guidelines, and make sure they have proper channels to raise concerns.

Shahriar Kausji, executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates for warehouse workers, said people work at Amazon during the holidays hoping it will turn into a permanent position — but soon after Christmas and New Year’s, many quit. Workers complain that there is no clear process or path to permanent employment, he said.

“It’s very arbitrary,” Kausji said. “Sometimes we talk to workers who have been seasonal workers for several years and don’t get a permit, and other people are coming in for the first time and are offered a permanent job.”

According to Amazon, seasonal employees are called “white badges,” while part-time and full-time employees are “blue badges.”

Levy, the Amazon spokesman, said seasonal workers receive the same onboarding and training that blue badge employees receive, and that they can apply for permanent positions at any time during their employment. The company said the injury rate at the facility has improved significantly and it continues to invest in safety throughout its operations.