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AMAZON workers are on the brink of winning historic union recognition at the company.
The online giant is being asked to formally recognise trade union GMB at its Coventry site, where hundreds of GMB members have walked out on strike in a dispute over pay.
The GMB says it would be the first time workers at the company would have formal union recognition for collective bargaining over pay and conditions.
A majority of nearly 700 of the estimated 1,300 workers at the distribution centre in Coventry have joined the union, meeting the threshold for statutory recognition, the GMB said.
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 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.
“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 GMB union.
“There is a full process in place to try and prevent GMB from forming, but we have the numbers now and Amazon will go out of their way to flood that warehouse with more workers so the numbers are different.”
Amazon, which has 10 days to respond to the recognition request, said it “respects its employees’ rights to choose to join or not join a labour union.”
GMB member Darren Westwood, who works at the warehouse and has helped get colleagues to join the union, said: “It’s just so exciting because we've taken on one of the biggest companies in the world and won.”
The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) could force union recognition in the event that Amazon refuses to grant it, if it accepts that a majority of the workforce wants GMB to represent them.
