The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Amazon is raising hourly wages for thousands of Canadian warehouse workers by $1 amid a labour dispute with a Vancouver union pushing for a historic first collective agreement. The Globe's Vanmala Subramaniam writes that the tech behemoth announced Wednesday that it would boost the average hourly base wage for "operations employees" in Canada from $25.27 an hour to $26.27 an hour, effectively a 4-per-cent year-over-year increase in pay. Amazon is also giving all its employees, including corporate staff, 10 per cent off on-line grocery purchases on Amazon.ca starting Oct. 1. In a statement, the company said that the pay increase and grocery discount build on an existing workplace benefits package, which includes health, vision and dental benefits. Amazon has for years been trying to fend off unionization attempts by workers in multiple jurisdictions across the United States and Canada. Poor workplace conditions have been the impetus for union drives, but while Amazon workers in New York and Vancouver have successfully formed unions, no union has managed to secure an official collective agreement. Unifor unionized warehouse workers in Vancouver last July.