Amazon adding 2,500 more jobs in Ohio
Amazon announced Monday that it will open warehouses in Akron and in Rossford, near Toledo, the seventh and eighth shipping hubs the company will operate in Ohio.
“Ohio has been a great place to do business, serve customers and create jobs; as a result, we are thrilled to develop two state-ofthe-art fulfillment centers in Akron and Rossford,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment. “We’re excited to grow our team in the Buckeye State, which now includes more than 8,500 Amazonians.”
Amazon plans to build a warehouse on the site of the former Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, which was acquired by the city and demolished. Amazon’s developer has prepared the 107 acres of commercial property for renewal. Construction of the more than 700,000-squarefoot distribution center is scheduled to begin in September, according to those familiar with the development.
Local officials anticipate a hiring push to begin within 60 days of equipping the $100 million, four-story facility, which will use a mix of human “pickers,”
who grab packages, and automated processes. The facility could be operational by Christmas 2020, according to some officials.
“In Akron we have a proud history of innovation, resiliency and reinventing ourselves to meet the changing demands of a dynamic economy,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said. “We are thrilled to welcome Amazon to Akron, to transform this once blighted property into a thriving logistics and distribution hub. This is the single largest job-creating project we have undertaken in a generation.”
The new 700,000-squarefoot facility in Rossford is planned at the intersection of Interstate 75 and the Ohio Turnpike.
Awarded local tax breaks and yet-to-be-disclosed state incentives from Jobsohio, Amazon is publicly committing to 2,500 new jobs in Ohio, 1,500 of them in Akron, according to Akron officials. To fill one-day shipping guarantees, the around-the-clock operation will run multiple shifts, meaning that the actual employment number, especially during peak shopping season, could be higher.
“Amazon has been a strong partner in Ohio, creating more than 8,500 jobs here that have brought benefits and health care on Day One,” said J.P. Nauseef, Jobsohio president and chief investment officer.
Amazon’s warehouse jobs start at $15 an hour and come with tuition reimbursement, health care and paid parental leave. The company has come under fire recently from unions and workers who say the work is grueling, forcing some employees to choose between taking a bathroom break or hitting quotas. On Amazon’s two-day Prime sale, workers at some fulfillment centers staged strikes.
Amazon’s Ohio footprint will now include eight fulfillment centers, including three in central Ohio: Columbus, Etna and West Jefferson. Amazon also operates warehouses in Euclid, North Randall and Monroe.
In addition, Amazon operates a sorting center near Twinsburg, and is building a data center in New Albany and an “air gateway” at Wilmington Air Park in space vacated by DHL.