The first British legal challenge against Amazon’s union-busting kicked off this week
Last summer, the UK witnessed a modern-day David vs Goliath battle as Amazon workers at Coventry took on the tech giant in a fight to force Jeff Bezos to recognise a trade union at a British warehouse for the first time.
After throwing every US-style union-busting trick he could at it, Bezos squeaked by in the crucial vote by just 15 votes.
Make no mistake: Amazon won the vote by fighting dirty. Perhaps most outrageous was its use of a “one-click-to-quit-the-union” QR code. This code was plastered all over the warehouse – on every table in the canteen, on huge screens in the centre of the building, and in every toilet cubicle.
There was also old school, face-to-face bullying and intimidation. Workers were instructed by managers to attend “information sessions” that actually planted misinformation about unions. Workers called them “propaganda sessions”.
Now, Amazon UK workers are fighting back. On Tuesday, a legal challenge to Amazon UK’s union-busting dirty tricks at its Coventry warehouse got going at a preliminary hearing in the Employment Tribunal.
A total of 878 workers from the Coventry warehouse have joined the legal challenge. Alongside the GMB trade union, Foxglove is supporting the workers to take on this landmark case arguing that Amazon used unlawful tactics to swing last year’s vote.
Ahead of the hearing, the i newspaper published a great article about the legal challenge: https://inews.co.uk/news/amazon-coventry-workers-legal-battle-3675386
It includes the story of Ceferina Floresca, one of the workers involved in the legal challenge. Amazon put Ceferina through hell. She suffered a heart attack while at work in the warehouse two years ago. When she returned to work, she was handed a “letter of concern”. At first she thought this was a kind gesture from the company concerned about her health.
She soon learned the “concern” was actually a warning about her absence from work while her heart was recovering. She has since had to be rushed to hospital six times in an ambulance from the warehouse.
Stories like Ceferina’s are why these workers are fighting back – and why a union at the warehouse is so badly needed.
If the legal challenge is successful, Amazon will be forced to pay compensation to all of the 878 workers bringing the case. Most importantly, if we win in court it will mean Amazon cannot get away with the same tactics to stitch up future union recognition votes in UK warehouses.
Supporting this first-ever legal challenge of Amazon’s union-busting in the UK is the latest step in Foxglove’s long-running support for Amazon warehouse workers. We’ve supported them on picket lines, raised money for their strike fund and for pro-union adverts, and written to our MPs to demand changes to the law.
Frontline workers have a key role to play in challenging the power of Big Tech companies and their billionaire owners. Whether it’s Amazon warehouse workers in Coventry, or Facebook content moderators in Kenya or Ghana, we need to get behind their battles for fair pay, safe conditions, and the right to join a union.
We’ll keep you updated as the court case progresses. We’ve been told that we may have to wait until December for the main hearing – but we’ll let you know if there’s any news sooner.
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