Amazon UK Warehouse Workers to Strike Through Prime Day
Nearly 900 workers at an Amazon warehouse in England will go on strike during Prime Day as talk of a #HotUnionSummer seems to be coming true.
Workers will strike on July 11-13 for two hours in the morning and two in the evening on each of the three days at the company’s Coventry “BHX4” fulfillment center, which has been a hotbed for labor activity this year as employees push for higher wages and better benefits.
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The GMB, a U.K.-based trade union with more than 500,000 members, is calling on Amazon to raise starting pay to at least 15 pounds ($19.20) an hour. Starting pay for Amazon employees is between 11 pounds ($14.08) and 12 pounds ($15.36) per hour, depending on the location.
Tomorrow almost 900 Amazon workers will down tools to mark Prime day.
The world’s largest online retailer is nothing without its workers.
This fight will only end with £15 an hour and union rights. https://t.co/zVXXtS5wzA— GMB Midlands (@GMBMidlands) July 10, 2023
“It’s grotesque that in this context they’re denying low paid workers here in the U.K. the right to a wage that pays the bills,” said Racheal Fagan, senior organizer at GMB, in a statement. “When our members are standing on the picket line in Coventry they’ll have a simple message for the company; you can’t get human beings on the cheap.”
Amazon said that the Coventry site does not directly service customer orders, meaning shoppers won’t be disrupted by the walkout.
The Coventry site became Amazon’s first in the U.K. to witness an official strike in January, with 300 of the 1,400 employed at the facility walking off the job. The warehouse was one of a few in England that saw unofficial walkouts in August and on Black Friday last year.
The facility’s employees are also demanding formal union recognition, after membership more than doubled during strike action.
Amazon addressed the looming strike by reiterating its benefits and pay.
“We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern, work environment,” said Mary Kate Paradis, an Amazon spokesperson. “At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.”
In June, the union said that the Coventry warehouse workers had voted for six more months of strikes. The workers also went on strike last month from June 12-14.
In the U.S., Amazon is seeing more pushback from a group of former contract delivery drivers and dispatchers who had their partnership terminated. Eighty-four workers at third-party delivery company Battle Tested Strategies, who joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in April, have been picketing various warehouses in California since May over worker safety concerns.
Citing unfair labor practices, the Teamsters-represented workers went on strike at four California fulfillment center before extending the picket lines to the East Coast to warehouses in Carteret, N.J.; North Haven, Conn.; and Norwood, Mass.
“Amazon is a wealthy corporation, but the workers who make it possible are all living paycheck-to-paycheck,” said Brandi Diaz, a striking Amazon driver from California who traveled to Massachusetts for the picket line. “I’m a single mother and am barely making ends meet for my three kids on Amazon’s low wages. We deserve better from Amazon.”
Amazon has not recognized the union, as none of the 84 staff was ever officially employed directly by the e-commerce company. Battle Tested Strategies was part of Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program before the Amazon ended the contract.
The e-commerce giant has maintained that Battle Tested Strategies was terminated on April 14 for breach of contract, with the contract itself expiring on June 24.
“The Teamsters are being intentionally misleading and continue to promote a false narrative,” Paradis said in a statement. “Their contract is with Battle Tested Strategies, not Amazon. These gatherings have been initiated and attended by mostly outside organizers, and the activities had no impact on our operations or ability to deliver for customers.”
Amazon said the BTS contract was terminated for six breaches of contract, five in January alone. These include three instances of failing to pay insurance service providers, two grounding policy violations, and one vehicle inspection checklist/vehicle safety audit violation. Grounding refers to removing vehicles from use for repairs.
With a potential strike looming among more than 340,000 UPS workers in the U.S., Amazon will have to rely on its own fulfillment network to deliver more packages on schedule.
Whether it’s the immediate concern of strikes during Prime Day or worries about a slowdown in operations if a UPS strike occurs in August, Amazon said it is ready for the onslaught.
“Collaboration has been critical to our success, and we’ve built an infrastructure of partners across our transportation network,” a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. “Our teams work globally with thousands of linehaul partners, postal operators, commercial carriers, small- and medium-sized DSPs, Hub Delivery Partners, and Flex Delivery Partners to get packages into the hands of Amazon customers.”
According to JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth, Amazon is expected see a 12 percent increase in revenue from Prime Day sales on July 11-12, to roughly $7 billion.
