Amazon workers in Coventry start union recognition process
According to the union, bosses at the retail giant have 10 days to respond and agree to voluntary recognition
GMB union has confirmed that it has started the process for Amazon Coventry’s union recognition, following 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.
According to the union, bosses at the retail giant have 10 days to respond and agree to voluntary recognition. If there is no agreement, the GMB union will start the statutory process through the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).
If Amazon agrees to voluntary recognition, it 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, senior organiser at GMB, 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 14 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.”
She added: “With industrial actions ballots under way in five further Amazon depots 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 the GMB Union.”
