Amazon union members launch strike ballots at two UK sites
Union members at Amazon are stepping up their battle over pay and conditions, launching strike ballots at two more warehouses, as the GMB union demands formal recognition at the delivery company’s Coventry site.
GMB members at Amazon fulfilment centres in Rugeley, Staffordshire, and Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, are voting on whether to strike after signalling their readiness to take industrial action in consultative ballots.
It came after a second pay rise from the internet retailer in 12 months was dismissed by the GMB as “an insult”. Amanda Gearing, senior organiser at the union, said: “Amazon workers are fighting back against a pay rise of pennies from one of the world’s wealthiest corporations.
“This escalation will now see workers in two further fulfilment centres asked to have their say on downing tools and walking out to deliver pay justice.”
The GMB, which has been steadily building up its representation at Amazon UK over the past decade, concedes that just 150 members will be balloted across the two sites – likely to be less than 10% of the total workforce.
But it hopes that, as in Coventry, where the first UK strikes against Amazon kicked off in January, the prospect of industrial action will raise the union’s profile and help to bolster membership.
Consultative votes held at three further sites did not meet the threshold to proceed to a full-blown strike ballot.
Meanwhile, the GMB has written to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) – the arm of the Department for Business and Trade that rules on union disputes – requesting statutory recognition at the Coventry depot. It followed Amazon’s rejection of a request from the union for voluntary recognition.
After the GMB wrote to the firm last month, Amazon issued its
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