Amazon UK Warehouse Workers Conduct Union Recognition Vote
Amazon workers at a U.K. warehouse are voting this week to determine whether to unionize, marking the first time the e-commerce giant faces such a vote in the country.
More than 3,000 workers at the fulfillment center in Coventry, England are expected to take part in the ballot to join the 500,000-member GMB Union. The 430,500-square-foot facility has been central to U.K. labor concerns over the past 18 months, with workers at the site intermittently striking for over 30 days in that time frame.
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The historic vote began Monday and runs until Saturday. Results are expected to be revealed July 15.
If a majority of the workers vote “yes” in favor of unionization, Amazon will be required to negotiate with the GMB on pay, as well as matters related to worker safety, hours and benefits like holidays.
A vote had been expected since April, when the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), a government body that oversees trade union recognition and collective bargaining agreements in the U.K., accepted the union’s application for a recognition vote.
“Workers have come together because of the poverty pay and unsafe conditions Amazon has thrust upon them,” Andy Prendergast, the national secretary of the GMB, said in a statement. “They want the same fair pay and safe conditions any of us would demand. GMB members face shocking levels of intimidation, fear and abuse at the hands of bosses for daring to fight. Amazon has had every chance to do the right thing; now workers are taking things into their own hands to make work better.”
On Monday, employees staged protests outside several warehouses across England, Scotland and Wales to demonstrate their discontent with pay and what they describe as unsafe conditions, including unrealistic daily work quotas. A separate rally was held outside Amazon’s London headquarters.
Amazon’s minimum starting pay ranges from 12.30 pounds ($15.90) to 13 pounds ($16.80) per hour depending on the warehouse’s location. The company has seen 20-percent wages increase over two years and 50-percent increases since 2018.
However, employees have repeatedly indicated since 2023 that they are seeking a pay bump to 15 pounds ($19.40) an hour.
The organization efforts in the U.K. follows the unionization of an Amazon warehouse in the U.S. in April 2022. Amazon has yet to recognize the Staten Island, N.Y.-based Amazon Labor Union, and has not signed a contract with the labot group. The ALU recently achieved its biggest victory yet in affiliating with the Teamsters. Such a partnership enables the cash-strapped union to gain more resources to forge a more national unionization drive for Amazon workers.
Germany port workers strike as fourth round of negotiations kicks off
The union vote isn’t the only major labor-related drama encompassing the logistics landscape in Europe.
Union workers went on yet another series of “warning” strikes across multiple ports in Germany, including its largest gateway, the Port of Hamburg, demanding better wages. The first series of strikes were conducted across separate days between June 7-14, as well as June 17.
The latest warning strikes took place in the ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Emden, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven.
Dockworkers in Hamburg went on a 48-hour strike from 7 a.m. Monday to 7.a.m. Wednesday, while Bremerhaven workers stopped working from 2 p.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Tuesday. Employees in Emden walked off the job for both shifts on Wednesday.
Workers in Bremen went on strike during the first shift on Wednesday, while those in Wilhelmshaven walked out on both shifts.
All port operations were suspended for the duration of the strikes. After the strikes end, congestion, backlogs, a lack of booking slots and vessel delays can be expected.
Negotiations for a new collective agreement for the 11,500 union employees of the German North Sea ports began in May, and are now in their fourth round of talks, according to an update from German trade union Ver.di. The strikes come just two years after the union engaged in work stoppages at the ports.
The union is calling the offer from their employers, the Central Association of German Seaport Companies (ZDS), “inadequate.”
Ver.di is demanding a three-euro ($3.26) increase in hourly wages for dockworkers of as of June 1, as well as a corresponding increase in shift allowances, which are the equivalent to American overtime hourly bonuses. The union says it wants a 12-month “catch-up” for missing increases in shift allowances going back to the 2022 collective agreement.
ZDS bumped its prior offer from a 2.5 percent wage hike to a 2.9 percent increase, and is also offering a 33-cent shift allowance hike.
Ver.di called on workers at Germany’s Port of Brake to follow suit and strike across both shifts Thursday.
“In the third round of negotiations, we were still far apart,” said Ver.di negotiator Maren Ulbrich in a statement. “The offer presented by the employers is not acceptable to us. The employers still have to move on the wage increases offered. The expansion of the warning strikes in Hamburg will now send another very clear signal to the employers that the employees are serious about their demands.”