Amazon hit with more more strikes as 1,100 workers are set for walkouts over pay
More than 1,100 Amazon workers are to strike next week.
The GMB union says around 1,000 members at Amazon’s Coventry depot will stage walkouts on August 4 and 5.
More than 100 will walk out in Rugeley, Staffs on August 3 and 4, taking Amazon’s strike-day tally to 26 this year. The first UK strikes began a year ago, sparked by a 35p per hour pay rise offer.
Amazon’s minimum pay is £11-12 per hour depending on location but Rachel Fagan, a GMB senior organiser, said strikers wanted at least £15 per hour.
She added: “The fight for workers’ rights at Amazon is only just beginning.” Staff also want better working conditions and union recognition.
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Amazon said: “We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages and benefits.” It said staff had a positive environment and good career opportunities.
A poster at Amazon's Coventry depot during last round of strikes (Bloomberg via Getty Images)The walk-outs are centred on pay, working conditions and union recognition.
Coventry worker Darren Westwood, writing in the Mirror, said: “I’m proud that our fight has become a symbol for so many others outside of Amazon too.
“Just last week I met an Asda worker who shook my hand and told me hearing about our fight had pushed them into joining the union and standing up to be counted.
“The road to today hasn’t been simple and Amazon have used every dirty trick in the book to stop us. But it wasn’t slogans or banners that forced me and my colleagues to finally act, it was the stories I hear from Amazon workers every day of the week.”
Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s richest people, has faced strikes in the US too. Workers are unhappy about their pay and treatment when the company is booming and has a stock market value of £1trillion.
Rachel Fagan, GMB senior organiser, said: “One year ago, Amazon workers downed tools in disgust after managers announced one of the world’s wealthiest companies would be offering a pay rise of just 35p.
“Twelve months on and Amazon is now facing the biggest week of industrial action in the company’s history – across two sites.
“Amazon has thrown everything at stopping this, but workers have stood firm on the picket line and are more determined than ever to win £15 and union rights.
“This industrial action will spread further: it’s clear the fight for workers’ rights at Amazon is only just beginning.”
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