Brits could face disruption to future Amazon deliveries as workers await the results of an important union ballot hours before the Prime Day sales.
The Prime sale, which takes place over two days, involves retailers selling various items like air fryers and Kindles for cut-rate prices.
If the proposal is passed, workers would be given the right to negotiate with the American company directly over hours, pay and holidays.
This vote comes after the GMB Union held two strikes at the Coventry site after members called for a minimum hourly rate of £15 and union rights.
Following this dispute, the trade union applied for mandatory union recognition to the government's Central Arbitration Committee.
Amazon workers come together to fight 'poverty pay and unsafe conditions'
Andy Prendergast, the GMB national secretary, said: “Workers have come together because of the poverty pay and unsafe conditions Amazon has thrust upon them.
“They want the same fair pay and safe conditions any of us would demand. GMB members face shocking levels of intimidation, fear and abuse at the hands of bosses for daring to fight.
“Amazon has had every chance to do the right thing; now workers are taking things into their own hands to make work better.
A spokesperson for Amazon said: “Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have. We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages and benefits.
“We also place enormous value on engaging directly with our employees across Amazon. It’s an essential part of our work culture. We value that direct relationship and so do our employees.”
The Prime Day sale takes place between Tuesday, July 16 and Wednesday, July 17.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel