Amazon begins hiring at Otay Mesa facility. Is $15 an hour enough?

Amazon announced this week it has begun hiring roughly 1,500 workers for its massive fulfillment center in Otay Mesa.

The news release announcing the job search was the first time the online retailer publicly admitted it was behind the 3.4 million-square-foot facility, which has been under construction for more than a year.

The Amazon jobs will start at a minimum of $15 an hour, said the Seattle company’s press release. Employers across San Diego County have reported difficulty finding workers, resulting in bidding wars for employees. Some businesses, for example, are paying up to $20 an hour for dishwashers. (The minimum wage in San Diego County, for companies with 26 or more employees, is $14 an hour.)

Other companies have offered signing bonuses to entice workers. The Lot, a luxury cinema company with two locations in San Diego, gave signing bonuses as high as $1,000 as long as an employee committed to at least 90 days of work.

While its hourly wage might not be attractive or competitive, Amazon’s benefits package might be appealing to a worker. Full-time workers get full medical, vision and dental insurance on the first day. They also get a 401(k) with a 50 percent match.

Phil Blair, executive officer of San Diego staffing agency Manpower, said the starting pay may be an issue for Amazon. He said businesses across San Diego County are struggling to find new employees despite higher pay and benefits.

“If they are paying $15 an hour, that is not enough in this job market,” he said. “The going rate is more like $17, $18, $20 an hour.”

Efforts to get more information from Amazon about how many of the jobs start at $15 an hour were unsuccessful. But, its job posting said there are additional benefits: New hires get a $100 bonus if they show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and it provides programs for workers to learn new skills.

Even with the benefits, Blair noted Amazon warehouse workers are not known for sticking around a long time. A recent New York Times investigation found the retailer has a 150 percent turnover rate each year at its warehouses. It said it loses nearly 3 percent of its warehouse workers each week.

Conditions at the facilities, which have been criticized for being difficult, were thrown into the spotlight last week after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos completed a journey to space with his other company, Blue Origin. In an interview with ABC News after the flight, Bezos thanked Amazon workers and customers for paying for the trip.

“Yes, Amazon workers did pay for this — with lower wages, union busting, a frenzied and inhumane workplace,” wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) on Twitter, “and delivery drivers not having health insurance during a pandemic.”

Amazon said job candidates must be 18 years or older and have a high school diploma, or equivalent. The job listing says shifts are overnight, early morning, day, evening and weekends.

Amazon said in its news release that it would begin hiring for Spanish-speaking workers in the coming weeks. It was unclear if that means Spanish speaking only. The facility’s location near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, where thousands of Mexican workers cross into the United States each day, could benefit from its proximity to Tijuana.

The previously vacant 65-acre site was purchased for $29.7 million earlier this year. Its location is just outside the rapidly industrializing center of Otay Mesa, part of the city of San Diego, in unincorporated San Diego County land.

County records say 43,371 square feet of the site will be for office space, with the remaining 3,387,858 square feet for the warehouse. While its location is outside the main industrial hub, improvements in the area are likely to benefit the project going forward.

The city was awarded a $22.7 million state grant in December to widen and improve La Media Road — aimed at reducing truck congestion on the busy road by the border. There is also a large remodel of the port of entry underway and several other businesses setting up shop in Otay Mesa.

A large reason for the build-up, aside from cheaper land in this part of the county, is the change to trade deals in North America under the Trump administration. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, nicknamed “NAFTA 2.0,” gives American and Canadian businesses tax benefits for outsourcing to Mexico instead of Asia. The change means companies need storage facilities for goods built in Mexico to be shipped all over North America.

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Link to Amazon’s job website: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/