- Outsourced Amazon cleaners at a Dartford warehouse have
forced their employer under threat of a strike ballot to agree to
negotiate a voluntary recognition deal with their union, United
Voices of the World (UVW)
- The migrant workers, who began balloting for strike action
this week, will be the first cleaners on any Amazon site to win
union recognition in the UK.
- These Amazon cleaners join UVW’s co-ordinated and
simultaneous balloting of cleaners, carers and concierge workers
in nine workplaces in and around London.
Cleaners for the DBR1 Amazon warehouse in Dartford - who are
outsourced to Phosters (FM) Limited, a Worcestershire-based
facilities management company - will be the first workers
on an Amazon site to win union recognition in the UK.
This historic decision came after the workers, who joined eight
other workplaces, began balloting for strike action.
While recognition talks signal progress in the dispute, the
Amazon cleaners also demand a pay rise to an hourly wage of no
less than £11.95, and are resolute in their plans to go ahead
with strike action if their demands are not met. Currently the
cleaners receive only the national minimum wage which is lower
than warehouse operatives.
In 2021 Amazon had a turnover of £372 billion and Phosters parent
company, a turnover of £56 million, with a profit of £156 billion
and £2.7 million, respectively.
Petros Elia, UVW general secretary said: “We all
know that companies like Amazon make billions and use companies
like Phosters to avoid giving cleaners the already meagre terms
and conditions as their in-house workers. Amazon shareholders and
Phosters directors - whose pay increased by 55% in 2021 - all
benefit financially from this arrangement while the cleaners who
keep their lucrative operations running 24/7 struggle to get by
on poverty wages. It is of no surprise that Phosters have shifted
the blame for the cleaners' miserly wages onto the global
delivery giant Amazon. This strike is a strike against Amazon and
Phosters/”
Mass balloting of workers from at least nine different workplaces
across London and the South East is taking place this May as
members join the current strike wave across private and public
sectors. Workplaces include Amazon warehouses, Mercedes
showrooms, London School of Economics, a prestigious south London
private school and a state school, Sage Nursing home and luxury
flats and Department of Education.
