COVENTRY, England — Hundreds of Amazon workers picketed outside the large Amazon BHX4 warehouse here March 19, the first of two days of strike action organized by the General Municipal and Boilermakers union in their fight for union recognition.
They also set up a table for more information on the union as well as gazebos where workers could join the union.
“The work conditions are terrible. It could be up to 50 degrees Celsius [122 F] when we load and unload the trailers,” Max Smith who works at the plant told the Militant. “But our main demand is 15 pounds an hour [$19].” A number of strikers’ cars parked nearby sported Uber logos, a sign that many have to work two jobs to make ends meet.
Smith described how the fight for the union started in August 2022: “We had 2 pounds extra pay when we worked during the lockdown. And then they took it away. Now they give us a paltry 50 pence. It’s an insult!” Following the pay cut, workers held sit-down strikes and other protests at the warehouse and several other Amazon sites in the U.K.
The union has submitted an application for union recognition to the Central Arbitration Committee. In response, “the company is flooding the site with newly hired workers,” said Ceferina Floresca. “But we continue to recruit and we’re sure we are going to win the vote.”
Darren Westwood said that during the 2022 job actions he helped organize a meeting of workers attended by a GMB representative. They began recruiting to the union. They held their first official strike in January 2023, followed by more. Every strike action has resulted in hundreds of new union members.
Westwood says that the fight is about more than the Coventry plant. “Our fight has a worldwide importance for organizing at Amazon.” Last year workers here traveled to other warehouses in Nuneaton, Mansfield and Cardiff to leaflet about the fight for a union.
Workers at Amazon in Birmingham will have a two-day stoppage March 27-28, right before the busy Easter holiday weekend.