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If successful, it would be the first-time workers at a
UK Amazon site have won trade union recognition, says GMB
Union
GMB union has started the process for union recognition at Amazon
Coventry, after two weeks of strike action by workers at the
fulfilment centre.
Almost 700 Amazon Coventry workers are now GMB members, a number
the union believes is more than half of workers at the
site – the usual threshold for mandatory union recognition in a
workplace.
Amazon bosses have 10 days to respond and agree voluntary
recognition. If there is no agreement, GMB Union will start the
statutory process through the Central Arbitration Committee
(CAC).
This would be the first-time workers at a UK Amazon site have won
recognition of a trade union for collective bargaining over pay,
terms and conditions.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said:
“GMB members have been crystal clear since the start of their
campaign; they will not accept a pay rise of pennies from one of
the world’s wealthiest corporations.
“After weeks of campaigning and fourteen strike days, they’ve
built the power of their union on site and are now in a position
to file for recognition.
“Amazon top brass has refused to negotiate and now their own
workers have forced them to the table.
“With industrial actions ballots under way in five further Amazon
depots [1] and more and more Amazon workers joining GMB, managers
fast risk this becoming a summer of strike chaos for the company.
“The time has come for Amazon to sit down and talk pay with GMB
Union”.
ENDS
Media enquiries: GMB Press Office on 07958
156846 or at press.office@gmb.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
[1] www.gmb.org.uk/news/amazon-strikes-escalate-six-more-dates-coventry-and-ballots-five-new-sites
