Amazon could be forced to recognise a trade union for the first time in the UK, after the GMB submitted a second formal bid to the body that regulates collective bargaining between workers and employers.
The Central Arbitration Committee can force employers in England, Scotland and Wales to recognise a trade union if more than 50% of the workforce are members.
After more than a year of industrial action, GMB says its membership at the Amazon UK Services’ Coventry fulfilment centre has grown significantly and the union is “confident of surpassing the legal threshold for recognition”.
In June 2023, the GMB union withdrew its first CAC application for recognition at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, accusing the retail giant of employing “dirty tricks” to ensure the union could not secure the necessary membership threshold.
The union claimed the warehouse had been “flooded” with new employees since it began taking strike action. It believed this was “purely in response to GMB membership growing so close to the threshold for statutory union recognition”.
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Without revoking its application, the union would have faced a three-year wait before being able to apply again.
In a statement last summer Amazon said it respected its employees’ right to join or not to join a union, and that it regularly recruits new team members to meet customer demand.
Members of the GMB have taken around 30 days of industrial action at Coventry and some other Amazon depots over the past year in their fight for a £15-per-hour wage and union rights.
If the CAC is satisfied that the GMB’s application is valid, it will try to help the union and employer reach agreement on the scope of an appropriate bargaining unit within 20 working days.
Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, today said: “It’s been legal gymnastics from Amazon in their attempt to smash drives for union recognition. But instead of being beaten, Amazon workers in Coventry have recruited their colleagues into the union in record numbers.
“They’re calling time on Amazon’s tactics and demanding the company talk pay, worker safety and conditions with their union. The company could be on the brink of being forced to recognise GMB union.”
She added: “Amazon workers are low-paid workers facing often unsafe and insecure work; it’s time they were extended the same rights to union protection as everyone else.”
An Amazon spokesperson said: “Amazon’s minimum starting pay has risen by 20% in the past two years, and 50% since 2018. By April, our minimum starting pay will have increased to between £12.30 and £13 per hour depending on location.
“We also provide excellent career opportunities, a positive work environment and great benefits like our Career Choice programme, where we pay 95% of an employee’s tuition fees, helping them learn new skills and grow in their careers. It’s why so many people join, stay and grow with Amazon.”
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