Facility Services Company Loses Amazon Contract in Florida, Plans Layoffs

According to bizjournals.com, GDI Integrated Facility Services recently announced that its contract with e-commerce company Amazon in the state of Florida had been terminated.

The end of the contract to provide cleaning services for Amazon’s Florida warehouses will necessitate the need to layoff as many as 438 employees within the state, effective March 5.

However, according to the article, the lost contract not only covered GDI workers in Florida but more than 1,867 employees across 11 states. Details on the employment status of those workers beyond Florida were not immediately available.

In an email to Orlando Business Journal, Amazon spokesman Sam Stephenson said, “As part of our regular course of business, we evaluate our vendor partners based on a number of factors and make changes to meet our business needs. As the result of a recent review, we’re changing janitorial vendors.”

Amazon also said that workers laid off by GDI, who mainly worked as general cleaners or trash collectors, would have the potential opportunity for future employment with the new facility services vendor, who was not yet named by Amazon.