Amazon workers in Coventry announce six fresh strike dates
Workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have announced six fresh strike dates, as the GMB union prepares to test support for stoppages among staff at another five of the delivery company’s sites.
Strikes at the vast Coventry centre, known as BHX4, began in January – the first industrial action ever taken against Amazon in the UK. Staff are demanding pay of £15 an hour.
The GMB claims to have signed up hundreds of new members among the workforce at Coventry and in Amazon sites further afield since the dispute began.
Amazon announced a fresh pay rise for all its UK staff earlier this month but the union said this amounted to an average of only 1.8%-2.5%, describing it as “an insult”.
More than 560 workers are now expected to join in two three-day stoppages, one from 16-18 April and another from 21-23 April. Previously fewer than 300 staff were involved. The union believes it is edging closer to the 50% membership that would allow it to apply for statutory recognition.
Amanda Gearing, the senior GMB organiser involved, said: “Industrial action is growing and this could fast become a summer of strike chaos for Amazon.
“Six further days of strike action in Coventry is a clear statement from our members they are worth more; they will not accept a pay rise of pennies from one of the world’s wealthiest corporations.”
She called on the company to “urgently get serious and talk pay with GMB now”.
The GMB will also gauge the appetite for strike action among other Amazon workers by holding consultative votes at another five distribution centres: Coalville and Kegworth, both in Leicestershire; Mansfield in Nottinghamshire; Rugeley in Staffordshire; and Rugby in Warwickshire.
If these votes yield positive results, formal strike ballots could
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