Facing growing union pressure, Amazon is raising the wages of its contracted delivery drivers in the US again. According to the business on Thursday, drivers employed by Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners, or DSPs, will make an average of over $22 per hour, an increase of 7% from the previous average of $20.50. The pay raise is a component of the online retailer’s recent $2.1 billion investment in the delivery program. Drivers are not directly employed by Amazon; instead, millions of parcels are delivered daily to customers by thousands of independent companies. Additionally, the business increased the salary of US drivers last year.

US labor officials are closely examining Amazon’s business strategy, which has created a barrier between the corporation and the people who operate its recognizable gray-blue vans.

The Teamsters and other labor organizations have maintained that Amazon has extensive influence over the workers it hires on a subcontract basis, defining their routes, establishing delivery deadlines, and keeping an eye on their output. They contend that the business ought to be regarded by the law as a joint employer, a position Amazon has resisted.

On the other hand, labor authorities are turning more and more against the business. Amazon should be held jointly accountable for allegedly issuing threats and other illegal

statements to DSP drivers who are trying to unionize in the city, according to a National Labor Board prosecutor in Atlanta last week. Amazon was found to be a joint employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered items for the corporation in California last month, according to an NLRB prosecution in Los Angeles. The agency may decide to file a complaint against Amazon in such circumstances if a settlement cannot be reached. The case would then be heard under the NLRB’s administrative law procedure. A judge’s order may be challenged by Amazon to the agency board and ultimately to a federal court.