By Abby Wallace
Amazon workers are taking part in fresh strikes at a warehouse in Coventry in an ongoing dispute with the tech giant over pay.
GMB members are downing tools for three days from 16 to 18 April as they call for hourly pay to rise to £15.
The union has also announced that members will strike between 21 and 23 April.
“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,” said Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser at the union, when the strike action was announced last month.
Amazon workers at the Coventry Fulfilment Centre who are part of GMB made history in January when they became the first Amazon workers in the UK to take part in strike action against a 50 pence per hour pay rise offered by the company.
Members also took strike action across February and March. Monday marks the 10th day of industrial action at the warehouse. There are now 600 members at the warehouse, up from 300 members when a consultative ballot took place last September, according to GMB.
“Amazon said it would never happen, and that only a tiny number would join industrial action over their pay rise of pennies,” Gearing said, adding: “Morale on the picket line is sky high and these workers aren’t giving up until they get the pay justice they deserve.”
Amazon said: “We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages, and recently announced another increase for our UK teams. Over the past seven months, our minimum pay has risen by 10% and by more than 37 per cent since 2018.”
The company does not recognise the GMB union. The union is also balloting members at five other sites, including in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.
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