Tukwila Amazon warehouse to close, 172 workers affected

TUKWILA, Wash. - Amazon is slated to close one of its warehouses in Tukwila later this year, impacting over 170 local workers, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD).

In a recent Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification (WARN), which is used to notify Washington employees of future business closures, the Amazon facility in Tukwila is listed as a permanent closure, scheduled to cease operations on August 1, 2024.

A total of 172 workers are affected by this closure. The ESD says it received the notice on May 31.

Amazon says they will work with affected employees to either transfer them to other facilities, or offer support if they choose not to stay with Amazon.

"We’re always evaluating our network to make sure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees, customers, partners, and drivers. As part of that effort, we may close older sites, enhance existing facilities, or open new sites, and we weigh a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites or maintain a presence," said Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson in a statement.

Amazon confirmed it's closing the UWA5 warehouse, located near SeaTac. The facility is mostly associated with Amazon Fresh.

This notice comes nearly two months after the Seattle-based retail giant announced it's cutting hundreds of jobs in its cloud computing unit AWS, mostly affecting business and sales-related roles.