300 Amazon workers begin week-long strike in Coventry – the first ever UK walkout for the web giant

Defiant workers at an Amazon depot in Coventry are staging a five-day strike from today with a picket set to last until Friday evening.

Workers with GMB Union previously walked out on February 28 and March 2 after voting to strike in an industrial ballot last December.

But today heralds the start of the longest period of disruption, as around 310 workers are on strike this week to demand improved pay and conditions.

The workers had become the first ever UK employees of the online giant to take strike action on January 25, earning praise from Labour’s Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana who said they were ‘making history’.

Amazon is the world’s second largest retailer after Walmart and it has so far refused to recognise the GMB union, in line with its approach to organised labour across the globe. 

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Around 310 workers at Amazon’s depot in Coventry are on strike this week to demand improved pay and conditions

The firm has regularly raised arguments over why its employees should not unionise.

The Coventry workers who have chosen to go on strike represent a minority of the 1,400 staff at the depot. They are seeking wages of £15 an hour – a 43% increase from the £10.50 rate they are paid.

Amazon offered a 5% rise, equating to another 50p an hour. The national living wage is £10.42 an hour for employees over 23 and is the legal minimum.

Amanda Gearing, a GMB senior organiser, said: ‘This unprecedented week-long strike shows the anger among Amazon workers in Coventry. They work for one of the richest companies in the world, yet they have to work round the clock to keep themselves afloat.

‘It’s sickening that Amazon workers in Coventry will earn just 8p above the (minimum wage) in April 2023. Amazon bosses can stop this industrial action by doing the right thing and negotiating a proper pay rise with workers.’

Amazon is the world’s second largest retailer after Walmart and it has so far refused to recognise the GMB union, in line with its approach to organised labour across the globe (Pictured: Amazon fulfillment centre in Coventry)

Ms Gearing said workers ‘have shown they’re willing to put themselves on the line to fight for what’s right’.

She added: ‘But people working for one of the most valuable companies in the world shouldn’t have to threaten strike action just to win a wage they can live on.

‘GMB urges Amazon UK bosses to give workers a proper pay rise and avoid industrial action.’

An Amazon spokesman previously said: ‘We appreciate the great work our teams do throughout the year and we’re proud to offer competitive pay which starts at a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour, depending on location. 

‘This represents a 29 per cent increase in the minimum hourly wage paid to Amazon employees since 2018. Employees are also offered comprehensive benefits that are worth thousands more—including private medical insurance, life assurance, subsidised meals and an employee discount, to name a few.’

The walkout by Amazon workers comes amid a winter of discontent, with Britons braced for one of the country’s most disruptive days of strike action ever tomorrow.