Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It is no secret that online retailing behemoth Amazon is looking to grow and grow big. But local officials, as well as those nationally, hope Amazon's growth spurt will see human workers hired and not robots or automated machinery doing the job that people can easily handle.
"We do want to see them grow with people, not robots," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. "If they are laying off people and replacing them with robots, that is not a good thing."
Amazon has 2,200 local workers at distribution centers in Lancaster, Hamburg and the Town of Tonawanda.
A fourth distribution center in the Town of Niagara is currently under construction and expected to employ at least 1,000 people when it opens next year.
That means Amazon, in less than one year, will see its local workforce grow by 45% to 3,200 workers, making it a top-20 regional employer.
To insure Amazon meets its employment goals in the Town of Niagara, the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency added clawback provisions to its 2023 incentive and tax break package it granted to the company.
Andrea Klyczek, Niagara County IDA executive director, says the clawbacks will be enforced.
"If they don't meet those goals, we can clawback the incentives," Klyczek said.