'They are the union, they’re already in there and they’re not going anywhere'

Staff at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry are entering day 18 of their strike action calling for better pay and conditions from the online delivery giant.

It comes as the GMB union were forced to withdraw its historic bid for union recognition, accusing Amazon of using ‘dirty tricks’ to undermine the application process.

However Stuart Richards, GMB union official in the Midlands, told LFF that the company’s attempts to drive the unions out have failed, as union membership continues to soar and workers rally at the picket lines.

“Amazon bosses continue to spend huge amounts of time and money on union busting tactics,” said Richards.

“They’ve now flooded the Coventry site with new starters to try and block the push for union recognition.

“These desperate attempts to try and keep the union out have already failed. There are over 800 GMB Union members in the Coventry site. They are the union, they’re already in there and they’re not going anywhere.”

Writing on Twitter from the picket lines yesterday, Richards said: “Amazon can’t beat us, so we’re not going to be put off by a little rain!

“Another day of strike action at Amazon Coventry and even more workers joined the #FightFor15.”

To receive union recognition, over 50% of staff in a workplace must have joined the union. Membership at the Coventry site shot up from an initial 30 people at the start of the dispute, to its current number – an impressive 800.

This would reflect over half the workers when based on Amazon’s figures last year that there were 1,400 workers at the warehouse. However in a dramatic rise, the company has now claimed there are 2,700 workers, which was accepted by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) who manage the official application.

The union has accused Amazon of flooding the warehouse with new starters since the strikes began in an attempt to squash the ever-growing unionisation and discontent from workers, who are fighting for a pay rise from £10.50 to £15 an hour from one of the biggest companies in the world.  

When LFF spoke to Amazon workers back in February as they entered their second strike day, one worker Conor spoke of the tactics he believed the company were already implementing to ensure the union membership target would not be met.  

“Amazon have extended the temporary contracts that we take on during peak.” Conor said. “The normal time scale is from September/ October through to January/ February. They’ve been extended now to April to boost the numbers up in the building so we won’t get our 50%.

“They’re keeping them on temporary contracts, knowing that temporary staff will never sign up for a union because they don’t have any rights anyway, the way Amazon see it.”

He added: “They hired about 1,000 associates and I think they’ve kept about 500-600 of them, whilst last year they didn’t keep a single one on past January.”

Conor also spoke of a ‘corporate dictatorship’ where management ‘ruled by fear all the time’ and hand out ‘disciplinaries like sweets’, painting a picture of life inside the warehouse.

Amazon workers are heading to Parliament tomorrow where they will meet MPs in their fight to become the first workers in the UK to win trade union recognitions at the internet giant.

They have urged the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch to meet with them and hear first-hand how Amazon’s employment practices are affecting its workers.   

GMB Senior Organiser Amanda Gearing will be giving evidence about Amazon workers’ struggle to the Human Rights (Joint Committee) hearing into human rights at work.

Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward

(Photo credit: GMB)

Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust

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