HISTORIC BLOW FOR AMAZON BOSSES AS GOVERNMENT BODY DECISION PAVES WAY FOR UNION RECOGNITION VOTE
GMB union has announced the ballot period for union recognition at Amazon UK has begun. More than 3,000 Amazon workers will now take part in a month-long process, which includes a vote at the retail giant’s Coventry fulfilment centre. Amazon workers on verge of historic vote on union recognition – IER
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Amazon workers are one step closer to Europe’s first recognised union at the retail giant.
GMB Union has announced that the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the Government body responsible for regulating collective bargaining between workers and employers, has ruled in favour of GMB’s application for a union recognition vote at the company’s Coventry Warehouse.
After over a year of industrial action and thirty strike days, the CAC determined that, on the balance of probabilities, a majority of the workers would favour recognition of the Union. This paves the way for a legally binding vote of Amazon Coventry’s workforce. https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/amazon-on-brink-of-forced-union-recognition
Union recognition would mean Amazon would be forced to sit down with GMB on matters relating to pay, hours, and holidays; the first time this has been achieved anywhere in the world outside of the USA.
This news comes just weeks after union-busting tactics at the Coventry site were exposed when it was revealed workers had been bombarded with anti-union messages by company bosses. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/08/gmb-accuses-amazon-union-busting-tactics-midlands-warehouses
Amazon bosses thwarted earlier attempts by workers to deliver union recognition by flooding the fulfilment centre with over a thousand new staff, in order to sidestep legal recognition thresholds. Despite this, union membership has continued to grow in the company’s Coventry Warehouse. https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/amazon-dirty-tricks-mean-gmb-withdraw-recognition-bid
The CAC will now appoint an independent organisation to arrange a legally binding vote of workers, with a ballot timetable likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said: “From day one of GMB’s fight for union rights at Amazon it has been a modern-day David and Goliath battle. One year on this is a truly historic moment as workers stand up against the company’s relentless anti-union propaganda. Workers have won against the odds and will now be given a legally binding say on forming Europe’s first recognised union at Amazon. Amazon bosses have been sent a clear and unapologetic message from their own workers that they refuse poverty pay and unsafe working condition; they demand dignity at work and a union to represent them”.
Rosa Curling, Director of Foxglove, said: “Amazon is going to pull every dirty trick in the book to keep unions out of their UK warehouses – but the Coventry workers have history on their side. This is a huge moment for GMB, and Amazon workers in Coventry who worked for years to earn this historic vote. Foxglove is proud to stand behind them to beat back Bezos’ union-busting – and we’ll be with them every step of the way.”
Workers downed tools at the company’s Coventry fulfilment centre as well as at Amazon’s new flagship HQ in Birmingham, a £500 million site that only opened its doors in October. Strike action will take place in Coventry on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 March and in Birmingham on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 March 2024.
GMB Amazon Strikes in Coventry warehouse, Lyons Park, Sayers Drive, Coventry:
Strike action took place in Coventry on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 March, Tuesday 13th February 2024 (6.30 a.m. until 8.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. until 6.30 p.m.), Wednesday 14th (6.30 a.m. until 8.30 a.m.) and Thursday 15th February (6.30 a.m. until 8.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. until 6.30 p.m.).
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550 Coventry Amazon workers to strike again Rally 6pm on 17 April 2023
-visit Pickets 6-30am to 8-30am and 6-7pm on 16-18 and 21-23 April @ Sayer Dr, Lyons Park, Coventry CV5 9PF
Industrial action has resulted in mass recruitment for GMB at Amazon Coventry, from 60 to 600 members and rising and an improved offer of a seconded 50p/hr pay rise has been made, but this is not enough and industrial action will continue.
GMB’s hardship fund for strikers: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/gmb-are-standing-with-amazon-workers
More than 350 staff at the Coventry fulfilment centre walked out on 28 February, 2 March and from 13 to 17 March. Public Strike rally Wed 15 March from 5-30pm @ Sayer Dr, Coventry CV5 9DQ
Amazon Coventry workers made history on 25 January – becoming the first Amazon workers in the UK to strike – in their fight for £15 per hour.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said: “It’s sickening that Amazon workers in Coventry will earn just 8 pence above the NMW in April 2023. Amazon bosses can stop this industrial action by doing the right thing and negotiating a proper pay rise with workers.” https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/amazon-workers-announce-week-long-strike-0
178 members of the GMB union based at the Amazon‘s Coventry warehouse walked out on 25 January 2023 after voting in favour of taking industrial action in first ever strike at the online giant, by UK workers, after rejecting a 50p/hr pay offer. https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/amazon-workers-stage-historic-strike
Wed 25 Jan Rally 6-8pm @ BHX4 site, Sayer Drive, Coventry CV5 9PF
https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/amazon-workers-announce-strike-date
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-64167186.amp
“I don’t want Jeff Bezos’s boat, I definitely don’t want his rocket – but I just want to live.” – George, Amazon worker in Coventry
GMB petition in support of Amazon workers sign the petition: We Support Amazon Workers
GMB’s Amazon Workers Support Group is https://forms.office.com/r/Z4cwgSbLiT
a UNITE the union-led COALITION, challenging the working practices championed by Amazon.
Their union-busting tactics deny workers a voice and create unnecessary fear. see https://actiononamazon.org/
Amazon is one of the most profitable companies on the planet, with their CEO Jeff Bezos one of the world’s richest men.
Meanwhile, the workers who made him his billions are expected to tighten their belts through the deepest cost-of-living crisis in decades.
Amazon workers are bravely standing up to demand a fairer deal.
Why is this important?
These workers deserve a decent pay rise and the hugely profitable Amazon can afford to give it to them.
They worked all through the pandemic, risking their lives keeping households stocked with essentials and dispensing goods that got us through the Covid restrictions. Amazon workers are expected to meet punishing targets day in, day out, and face intrusive monitoring of their performance. Many workers cannot keep up with the spiralling costs of food, energy and petrol.
The latest insulting pay offer is the last straw. The company only want to give their workers an extra 35p an hour – nowhere near enough to cover the bills.
In August 2022, protests broke out in Amazon sites across the UK. Amazon workers are standing up to these corporate bullies.
These workers know that Amazon will try to stop them from coming together. But they’re not going to let that deter them.