Amazon employees at UK warehouse ‘able to strike’ over pay, says union

Amazon employees at a warehouse in Coventry in central England are keen to strike over pay, a union mentioned on Friday, within the newest labour dispute involving the US e-commerce large‘s British employees.

Greater than 300 employees voted in a consultative poll – the place 97% mentioned they had been able to strike – forward of a attainable formal vote on whether or not to hold out a strike, the GMB union mentioned.

“Amazon employees are rightly livid and they’re able to stroll out,” GMB Senior Organiser Amanda Gearing mentioned. “They’re being supplied 35p an hour throughout the worst value of dwelling disaster in a era – and that is from an organization value greater than 1 trillion (kilos).”

Amazon, which has 70,000 employees within the UK, mentioned its beginning pay had risen to a minimal of 10.50-11.45 kilos ($12-$13) per hour – a 29% enhance within the minimum hourly wage for Amazon associates since 2018.

Staff are additionally supplied a advantages package deal value “hundreds of kilos yearly“, a UK consultant for Amazon mentioned in a press release.

Rising prices of dwelling have sparked a wave of business unrest throughout industries in Britain as hovering inflation outpaces pay rises.

Hundreds of Amazon employees at a warehouse in Tilbury in southeast England walked out in protest over pay final month, over a 35 pence per hour pay enhance, lower than the 2-pound rise sought by the GM