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Source: San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.存倉Oct. 29--SAN BERNARDINO -- In October 2012, a city reeling from its recent bankruptcy filing saw a glimmer of hope in Amazon's announcement that it had opened a distribution center and had hired 700 people.A year later, after a fresh batch of bad news, the online giant is holding an official grand opening for a facility that now employs 1,400 full-time, permanent workers."It's been a steady increase, and we have the space that hopefully soon we'll hire even more," general manager Jackie Underberg said Monday, giving a tour of the million-square-foot center a day before it's unveiled to visiting dignitaries including Gov. Jerry Brown.This was the first distribution center -- what Amazon calls a fulfillment center -- to ship products in California, something Underberg said gave workers great pride.Mayor Pat Morris said he looked forward to showing Brown a success his beleaguered city has seen with a program Brown and state lawmakers have changed in a way that would prevent it being used in the same way again."We are delighted to have the governor in our house, as it were, to talk about economic development," Morris said. "Ironically he and the lawmakers closed down our enterprise zone, but one of the big attractions around the airport has been our enterprize zone."A few large developments around the former Norton Air Force Base and Cal State San Bernardino collectively added 9,000 jobs, as well as infrastructure improvement such as a widening of the Mount Vernon bridge to allow shipping to the 10 Freeway and onward from there.Inside the center, which was substantially remodeled over the last year, high-end machinery helps sort packages, tell workers exactly how big of a box is needed and gives them the exact amount of tape needed, cutting down on waste."It's a good sustainable practice," said Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman.That's also the type of innovation that makes Guadalupe Palma, head of Ontario-based Warehouse Workers United, nervous."We're very concerned that these jobs are being touted as a good way to get into the middle class, because the reality we have seen in the industry is very different," Palma said. "Some of the rumors we're hearing from workers is that these jobs may be automated very soon, and slowly you start seeing the realities of part-time work, low-paid work, no real pathway to better jobs."Pal儲存a said the union hasn't made any attempt to add Amazon employees to its membership, although the doors are open.Underberg, who's worked in San Bernardino for four months and with Amazon for three years, says the company is dedicated to helping workers advance -- even if it's not to a position that then helps Amazon's bottom line."For a lot of our workers, it's their first job," she said. "We have training to enter management, but some people also might want to do something else, and we offer that, too."Amazon's Career Choice program pre-pays up to 95 percent of the tuition for courses in jobs determined to be high demand, such as nursing, aircraft design or computer-aided design.All full-time hourly associates who've been employed for three consecutive years are eligible for the program, according to the company's website.Employees are enrolled at the date of hire in medical and other employment benefits that take months to kick in at other companies, Underberg said.While unemployment has been holding back the Inland Empire, the number of jobs alone isn't what excited Redlands-based economist John Husing, who studies the region."What's significant about it is it opens the door to the whole idea of e-commerce facilities being built in the Inland Empire," Husing said. "As of January we had a total of 17 projects looking for homes, and 7 of those were e-commerce. That's because of Amazon."Relative to other warehouses, e-commerce offers significantly more jobs per square foot of warehouse space -- an average of 1,000 to 1,125 square feet per worker across the industry -- allowing other land to be used for other spaces, he said."And younger people, that's the way they're shopping," Husing said. "We have 7 to 8 percent e-commerce now. Forecasts put that up over 30 if you look out 20 or 25 years, so it's going to be a change."Amazon doesn't specifically track where its employees come from, but most are from the immediate region, Unerberg said. Workers were rushing to meet a shipment deadline during a tour Monday, but several were able to quickly confirm where they live -- often San Bernardino.And they're hiring.Seasonal jobs are listed at amazonfulfillmentcareers.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.) Visit the San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.) at .sbsun.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉