U.K. Amazon Workers Win Right To Vote Over Union

Amazon’s
AMZN
U.K. business could be forced to recognize unions for the first time after members of union the GMB at its Coventry, West Midlands warehouse were given the green light to hold a legally binding vote.

British independent statutory body the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which adjudicates on collective bargaining rights, has ruled that a ballot can be held at the online giant’s distribution center to gauge support for union recognition.

A win would give GMB the right to negotiate terms and conditions including pay, working hours and holidays with the online giant – the first time this has happened anywhere in the world outside of the U.S. – and comes after over a year of industrial action and 30 strike days.

The CAC determined that, on the balance of probabilities, a majority of the workers would favor recognition of the union, paving the way for a ballot of Amazon Coventry’s workforce.

In the run-up, the GMB has accused Amazon management of “union-busting tactics” at the Coventry site, where it claimed that workers had been bombarded with anti-union messages by management. Amazon bosses had thwarted earlier attempts by workers to deliver union recognition by flooding the fulfillment center with over a thousand new staff, in order to side-step legal recognition thresholds, the GMB had claimed. Amazon has denied these accusations.

The CAC will now appoint an independent organization to arrange a legally binding vote of workers, with a ballot timetable likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

GMB Fights For Amazon Union

“From day one of GMB’s fight for union rights at Amazon it has been a modern-day David and Goliath battle. One year on this is a truly historic moment as workers stand up against the company’s relentless anti-union propaganda,” GMB senior organizer Amanda Gearing said of the decision.

“Workers have won against the odds and will now be given a legally binding say on forming Europe’s first recognized union at Amazon. Amazon bosses have been sent a clear and unapologetic message from their own workers that they refuse poverty pay and unsafe working condition; they demand dignity at work and a union to represent them”.

This is not the first time GMB has sought statutory union recognition. However, the union withdrew its application to the CAC last year after the claims of management interference and GMB filed a second application last month, believing it had signed up more than half the staff.

Ballot Proposition Accepted

The CAC said on Thursday last week that while it had not found that 50% of warehouse workers were members – which would have prompted immediate recognition – it did accept GMB’s bid for a ballot to be held.

GMB needs at least 40% of employees to vote ‘yes’ in the ballot to secure recognition.

An Amazon spokesperson has said that the company’s employees have had the choice of whether or not to join a union and said that the company’s pay and benefits had steadily been improved upon over recent years.

Amazon workers at the company’s recently opened Birmingham distribution center nearby have also staged industrial action in recent months over pay and union recognition and if the GMB is successful, it is likely that other distribution hubs in the U.K. may also call for the same.