Amazon facility on city's West Side preparing to begin operations next week
Community organizations vow to collaborate with Amazon to hire from local neighborhoods
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Amazon's first ever same-day warehouse and fulfillment center within Chicago city limits is bracing for a bounty of orders.
The first deliveries to the heart of Chicago begin next week.
Some critics of the new warehouse say the majority of employees should be from the West Humboldt Park and Austin neighborhoods, where the facility is located.
Complete with robotic equipment to help sort orders, the site has 290,000 square feet of space to pack the orders and propel them to homes.
"We're able to pick, pack and fulfill your order and also put it out into the delivery vehicle all in the same day under the same roof," Amazon site leader Matt Hall said.
About 100 of the up to 350 positions at the facility are hired and they are looking for more hires in the next six months, Hall said.
"Really focused on getting them oriented to the building," Hall said. "Getting them oriented to Amazon and making sure they have the safety fundamentals."
"The biggest thing that we're prioritizing right now is local hiring," said Sarah Glavin, Amazon Chicago Region Head of Community Affairs. "So we've been working with six different community partners that are local to Austin and West Humboldt Park to really do that hands on introduction to the application process."
Those organizations include Austin People's Action Center, Black Men United, Bethel New Life, Build Inc., Kelly Hall YMCA and Westside Health Authority, Glavin said.
"We can support initiatives whether they be community initiatives, or entrepreneurship and civic economic development projects, so we're trying to take a lot of conversations and listen a lot," Glavin said.
While Amazon representatives said they are committed to investment in the Austin and West Humboldt Park communities, some critics say more guarantees are needed.
"Amazon wants to be good neighbors," said Farrah Walker with the West Humboldt Park Community Coalition. "We want them to be good neighbors and so we're feeling optimistic this can be done."
Walker, and others from the West Humboldt Park Community Coalition and Get to Work Inc., have vowed to fight for a community benefits agreement that includes $28.50 an hour in wages and 60% of workers hired from the community.
"Put it on paper," said Howard Ray, West Humboldt Park Community Coalition Founder. "This is America. Everything is put on paper."
