GMB has accused Amazon of ‘anti-union activities’ as recognition vote hangs in the balance

Two GMB representatives told Retail Week Amazon was using “anti-union activities” in the run-up to last week’s vote, which they said may have discouraged workers from casting their ballot. 

“We’ve seen seminars take place where workers have been pressured into attending as many as six individual sessions to get across anti-union messages in the lead-up to the ballot,” one of the union reps claimed.

He said he has “no idea” what the result of the recognition vote will be and that Amazon has thrown “everything at stopping the union”.

Another GMB source said it “wouldn’t surprise” him if Amazon had recruited more staff to “dilute the vote”, as a majority of warehouse workers need to vote for recognition if they want collective bargaining for workers’ rights.

Only last week, GMB said it was “quietly confident” about the outcome of the vote, insisting that Amazon workers were “yearning for change”. However, after today’s comments, it seems GMB’s hopes for a positive outcome for it may be fading.

There may also be some alarm at the amount of time the count is taking. GMB had originally expected a result to be delivered on Monday but Retail Week understands that the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which is responsible for regulating collective bargaining between workers and employers, is still reviewing the ballot. 

The CAC could take up to 48 hours to confirm the outcome, meaning the latest the result will be revealed is on Wednesday afternoon (July 17). 

Amazon has refuted claims that GMB held anti-union seminars with staff ahead of the ballot, and it has denied allegations of hiring new staff in a bid to dilute the vote.

Retail Week understands staff eligible for the ballot were pre-agreed by Amazon, GMB and the CAC, so any staff hired after that point would not have been eligible to cast a vote. 

An Amazon spokesperson 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. Our minimum starting pay in the UK is between £12.30 and £13 per hour, depending on location. That’s a 20% increase over two years and 50% since 2018.

“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, which is why we always work hard to listen, take on feedback, make continuous improvements, and invest heavily to offer great pay, benefits and skills development in a safe and inclusive workplace with excellent career opportunities.”

This is not the first run-in between the union and Amazon on this issue. Last year, GMB accused Amazon of “dirty tricks” after it had to withdraw its recognition bid at Coventry before it even got to the vote.

Amazon’s fluctuating staff numbers at the site meant the union needed more members than originally thought to submit a bid for recognition and it was therefore rejected.