Pavlina Draganova of campaign group Organise said that while pay was returning to the same levels as before the Christmas peak season, for many it still represented a real-terms cut. Some drivers say pay was cut back in December and others in January or February, despite a nationwide shortages of skilled workers.ĭrivers say they have been handed a pay cut equivalent to an average £20 a day from the temporary “peak” rates introduced in October despite, some say, being asked to deliver up to 60 more parcels per shift. Hourly rates are on average just over £14.60 per hour – about £2 an hour less, or 12% below, rates in October and November during the Black Friday and pre-Christmas rush.

Now the winter rush is over, Amazon drivers are raising the alarm, reporting significant drops in pay and in the number of shifts being offered, while others say petrol payments have not increased to reflect soaring fuel prices. Their wages rose last year, after Covid-19 restrictions lifted and the rapid reopening of the economy led to a shortage of labour. Rather than keeping these workers on its books, it manages them through what are called delivery service providers, small companies that handle groups of drivers, who work as self-employed independent contractors with no right to holiday pay, sick pay or the “national living wage”. To deliver a service of this scale and complexity, Amazon relies on a network of thousands of drivers.

They range from Prime next-day deliveries to the last mile of packages shipped from thousands of miles away in China or India. Amazon is the largest private parcel courier in the UK, delivering 15% of the estimated 5.4bn packages in 2021 – the equivalent of more than 2m items a day.

Amazon flex pay