AMAZON opened the doors of its new Fulfilment Centre in Rugby to give guests a preview of the site.
The new facility, based at the Rugby Gateway off Leicester Road, hosted a behind-the-scenes tour for Mark Pawsey MP, Warwickshire County Council leader Coun Izzi Seccombe, and local business leaders.
The site – the size of three-and-a-half football pitches – will be dedicated to beers, wine and spirits, will employ over 400 permanent staff, and will ship thousands of parcels when it opens later this year.
It will also support Amazon’s third-party Marketplace, which enables small businesses to reach more customers.
During the tour of the building, which is in the final stages of completion, guests met staff and saw the areas where products will be stowed, picked and packed before being shipped to customers around the world.
Site leader David Tindal said: “We’re excited to bring opportunities across a wide range of roles including IT, operations, engineering automation and more.
“Rugby is a great area, we’re really looking forward to opening our new fulfilment centre here later this year.”
Mr Pawsey said the new facility was a vote of confidence in Rugby’s economy, and an example of how the town’s position made it an ideal place for distribution and logistics businesses.
He said: “It demonstrates the ever increasing strength of our thriving local economy and the confidence that business has in our area.
“It was good to learn more about how Amazon are committed to upskilling their workforce and dispelling the idea that logistics and distribution is low skilled work.
“There is a lot of potential within the industry for good technical education and I was particularly keen to find out about how they are supporting apprentices, some of whom will be based at the new fulfilment centre in Rugby.”
When the new centre was announced in 2018, Rugby’s Labour spokeswoman called for assurances it would provide ‘quality employment with decent terms and conditions’.
Citing reports in recent years accusing Amazon of poor working conditions at its fulfilment centres, Labour’s Rugby parliamentary candidate Debbie Bannigan said: “We’ve all heard the horror stories of warehousing and fulfilment companies placing unreasonable expectations on their workers. I hope Amazon want to do better for the people of Rugby.”
But Amazon rejected any suggestion of poor practice, saying it provides “great jobs and a positive work environment with opportunities for growth”.
A spokesman added: “Permanent employees will receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits – including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, and an employee discount, which combined are worth more than £700 annually – as well as a company pension plan.”
Recruitment at the fulfilment centre will begin later this month. Visit www.amazonjobs.co.uk to apply.
