• Amazon.Com, Inc’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) U.K. fulfillment center workers prepared for an unprecedented strike.

• The 24-hour strike action began on January 25 at midnight, CNBC reports.

• Strikers will likely walkout outside the company’s site in Coventry in Central England throughout the day.

• Members of the GMB Union working at the retailer’s Coventry depot held a strike ballot in December after Amazon offered a 50 pence-per-hour ($0.56 per hour) hike, equivalent to 5% and well below inflation.

• The workers want the company to pay a minimum of £15 an hour and also want better working conditions.

• Amazon workers have complained of long working hours and aggressive, tech-enhanced monitoring of employees.

• About 98% of workers who voted were in favor of striking, Bloomberg reports.

• The strike follows a series of unofficial walkouts and slowdowns at warehouses across the U.K. last year after Amazon shared the pay raise update.

• Amazon said that the staff involved represent “only a fraction of 1% of our U.K. employees.”

• The pay for Amazon’s U.K. warehouse workers has increased 29% since 2018 and pointed to a £500 one-time payment made out to staff to help with the cost-of-living crisis.

• Amazon started laying off employees in 2022 to battle the business slowdown and macro uncertainties. The total layoff will likely reach 18,000, representing about 1% of total employees, a record in itself.

• Amazon has shared its plans to shut down three of its warehouses in the U.K. this year, which will impact 1,200 employees.

• Amazon succeeded in breaking most unionization efforts in the U.S. by convincing the workers and taking the necessary steps.

• Price Action: AMZN shares trade lower by 2.03% at $94.36 premarket on the last check Wednesday.

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