Amazon plans major layoffs. Will it hurt hiring at Turlock’s new fulfillment center?
As online retail behemoth Amazon announces massive layoffs across the company this week, Valley workers may wonder what it means for the newly opened fulfillment center in Turlock.
In late October, the e-commerce giant celebrated the grand opening of the new 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse built from the ground up at Fulkerth Road and Fransil Lane. The new warehouse announced it would hire an additional 500 workers to staff the center, up from its original 1,000 employee projection.
But this week, the news that Amazon planned to lay off 10,000 workers across the company cast doubt on whether all the planned hires in Turlock would still move forward.
According to Amazon spokesperson Natalie Banke, the company still will employ some 1,500 workers at the new Turlock fulfillment center, which is named MCE1 for the Merced Regional Airport nearby.
“MCE1 is doing well and still ramping up. And yes, we are still hiring and excited to fulfill the 1,500 positions in Turlock,” Banke said in an email to The Modesto Bee.
The announced cuts to the Amazon workforce will come from the company’s corporate and technology departments and represent fewer than 1% of its global workforce of 1.5 million.
The Turlock center is also still hiring for an additional 200 to 300 seasonal workers to help with the busy holiday rush. Starting salary for warehouse positions is $18.75, or $39,000 a year, for full-time workers. The warehouse will be staffed 24 hours over 12 shifts, and Senior Operations Manager Steve Ramirez said he expects it to take six months to a year for the site to be at full staffing.
Job seekers interested in applying for full-time, part-time or seasonal work at the Turlock Amazon facility can find open positions and applications online at amazon.com/flexiblejobs. Job seekers can also sign up for text alerts for upcoming Amazon jobs in the region. To sign up, text “AMAZONJOBS” to “77088,” and you will receive a series of texts asking you to opt-in for jobs in your ZIP code.
This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 1:41 PM.
