Amazon raises pay and enhances benefits for delivery drivers
CBSN
Amazon is boosting pay and expanding benefits for the e-commerce giant's delivery drivers.
The company said Tuesday it will offer wage increases for drivers employed by its so-called delivery service partners (DSP), who ferry packages in the company's vans. U.S.-based DSP drivers also will be eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan, with Amazon pledging to chip in $60 million in the first year to help business owners match employee contributions.
Starting in January 2023, a new program will offer Amazon DSP drivers up to $5,250 per year in educational benefits, including for college classes, high school completion courses and skill certifications. Amazon will reimburse delivery partners for tuition expenses.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.