Amazon Facing Labor Upheaval in Coventry and California

Alexandra Harrell and Glenn Taylor
·8 min read

Amazon strikers in a UK warehouse are continuing to make history by voting for six more months of industrial action following the biggest walkout of the dispute thus far, having taken place on Wednesday.

Nearly 800 Coventry workers went on strike, with 500 joining on the picket line during the 19th day of industrial action against the e-commerce giant in a dispute over pay. A 99 percent majority voted to extend the industrial action on a turnout of 54 percent.

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GMB, a UK trade union with more than 500,000 members, said that Amazon workers from Coventry are also in Parliament to meet members there in their fight to become the first workers in the UK to win trade union recognition at Amazon. Government ministers, including business secretary Kemi Badenoch, have also been invited.

“Amazon are raking in eye-watering sums of cash from the public purse while treating UK workers with disdain. It’s time for the government to get off the fence on Amazon funding,” Amanda Gearing, GMB’s senior organizer, said. “If this amount of taxpayer cash is spent on a private company, the contract must come with guarantees on worker pay, health and safety and their right to be represented by formally recognized trade union. Our members have invited the government’s top business official to hear from them first hand why it’s time for the government to get off the fence.”

GMB, however, was allegedly forced to withdraw its bid for recognition at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, subsequently accusing the e-tailer of “dirty tricks.” Amazon publicly stated last year that there were 1,400 workers at the warehouse, meaning that the 800 striking GMB members made up more than the 50 percent needed for statutory union recognition. And as the union claimed that it had surpassed the number of members required to secure recognition at the site, Amazon backtracked and stated to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) that it had 2,700 workers since the strike began to “scupper” the bid.

“The vote for six more months of strike action at Amazon Coventry shows these works are in for the long haul,” Gearing said. “Almost 500 people on the picket line is incredible. Amazon can pull all the dirty tricks it wants; hiring extra staff to deny workers their right to a voice in the workplace is an obstacle, but it is not unsurmountable,” Gearing said. “These workers are angry; they know their rights and they will not go away.”

Coventry workers made history on Jan. 25 when they became the first in the UK to take strike action against Amazon. They prepared themselves for a “David and Goliath” battle in February as they began day two of the strike.

“We respect our employees’ rights to join, or not to join, a union,” an Amazon UK spokesperson said to Sourcing Journal. “We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern, work environment. At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.”

Meanwhile, in California, Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers went on strike to demand that the Jeff Bezos-owned company stop its unfair labor practices and bargain with the Teamsters Union to address low pay and dangerous working conditions—marking the first strike by Amazon drivers in the United States.

“We know Amazon’s massive profits are only possible thanks to our labor,” Jesus Gutierrez, an Amazon driver, said. “We will not stand by while Amazon breaks the law. We are holding Amazon accountable for our safety on the job.”

Delivery drivers and dispatchers at Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP), Battle-Tested Strategies (BTS), organized a union with Teamster’s Local 396 in Los Angeles this April. Soon after, the workers negotiated and ratified a union contract with BTS in the first agreement covering workers in Amazon’s massive delivery network. And despite the “absolute control” it wields over BTS and workers’ terms and conditions of employment, Teamsters said, Amazon has refused to recognize and honor the union contract, instead choosing to engage in dozens of unfair labor practices violating federal labor laws. Amazon ended its relationship with BTS on Apr. 14, citing a breach of contract, though it’s still valid until June 24.

“Amazon is attacking these 84 Teamsters and the whole community of Palmdale with its exploitative practices,” Victor Mineros, secretary-treasurer of Local 396, said.

The Amazon drivers organized with the Teamsters over concerns for their safety in extreme weather, with temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. Their union contract guarantees the rights of workers to drive safe equipment and refuse unsafe deliveries. But due to the control Amazon exerts over its DSPs, making the contract’s protections a reality will require an “overhaul” of the company’s exploitative practices.

“The back of an Amazon van feels like an oven in the summer,” Cecilia Porter, an Amazon Teamster driver, said. “I’ve felt dizzy and dehydrated, but if I take a break, I’ll get a call asking why I’m behind on deliveries. We are protecting ourselves and saying our safety comes first.”

The walkout comes one month after 84 contract workers picketed the Palmdale warehouse delivery station in protest of Amazon’s wages and a “total disregard for worker safety.”

But Amazon seems to be trying to right some of its anti-union-rooted wrongs.

Jennifer Bates, the lead worker spokeswoman of the Bessemer, Ala., Amazon union drive, received notice that she was reinstated by the company after filing an unfair labor practice charge against Amazon. On June 2, Bates was terminated by the company after several months of a workers’ compensation “nightmare,” having suffered crippling injuries while at work.

“Amazon was wrong, they tried to fire me and stifle a movement, but the movement pushed back and I’m incredibly humbled by the global outpouring of support for my unjust termination,” Bates said. “If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s that today Amazon workers everywhere now know that when you’re under attack, you have to stand up and fight back, because when we fight, clearly, we win.”

Bates, a BAmazon Union committee member, spoke out about these injuries during the unionization effort, speaking about workplace safety issues, failures by the company to treat workers with respect and workers’ desire to unionize at the first Amazon warehouse to file for a union election.

“Amazon tried to stifle one of the most outspoken leaders of the contemporary labor movement. Today, Amazon had to admit it was wrong—because the world stood up and said no,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), said. “Jennifer made it clear that despite the company’s extraordinary power and resources, she would not be silenced—nor will we.”

An Amazon spokesperson said the company encouraged Bates to file an appeal and followed up with her to schedule the hearing.

“As is our standard process for this type of situation, Ms. Bates had the opportunity to, and did, appeal her termination,” said Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis in a statement. “After a full review of her case, the decision was made to reinstate her. We’re pleased that our appeal process continues to work as designed.”

The ability to appeal is a standard Amazon process that is available to employees on most termination decisions and is not unique to the BHM1 warehouse, according to Paradis.

The e-commerce giant still maintains that Bates did not respond to multiple requests for additional information regarding her leave. Upon dealing with “debilitating” injuries stemming from work at the facility, Bates said she had taken workers’ compensation leave at Amazon’s recommendation.

At the same time, Amazon acknowledged that the company could have been clearer on the necessary steps Bates had to take, which was the basis for why she is being reinstated.

Bates initially said that after she was sent home to get another doctor’s review, she had come back only to discover that her access to the employee-facing Amazon A to Z workforce management app had been disabled. A human resource representative then told her that the use of unpaid time off disabled her access and triggered the termination. Applebaum was critical of the firing process, calling it an issue “which can and should be easily resolved by a human.”

Bates will get reinstated with back pay, which Amazon says is the standard for any employee in a similar situation.

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