The TUC has insisted the battle for union recognition at Amazon will go on, after workers at the US retailer’s Coventry warehouse rejected the right to collective bargaining by a majority of just 29 votes.
In a historic ballot that could have forced Amazon to recognise a union for the first time in the UK, 50.5% of the workers who voted chose to refuse the proposal for the GMB union to represent them. If 15 had switched sides it would have gone the other way.
“Amazon has thrown everything at trying to stop workers from having an independent voice at work,” the TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, said. “This is not the end. Our movement will regroup and will continue to shine a light on bad employers.”
Union officials said Amazon had “created a culture of fear”, and used intimidatory tactics, to stifle support among the 3,000-strong workforce at the West Midlands hub after a battle for recognition lasting more than year.
GMB activists were allowed into the warehouse to make their case at strictly timed meetings in the run-up to the ballot, while managers used a string of separate briefings to argue against recognition.
Stuart Richards, a GMB senior organiser, said the union would consider a legal challenge. “From day one Amazon have been relentless in their attacks on their own workforce. We’ve seen workers pressured into attending six hours of anti-union seminars on top of the fortune spent by Amazon bosses to scare workers,” he added.
Workers were granted the right in April to hold the legally binding vote by the independent Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) after a campaign by GMB. Amazon had rejected a request for voluntary recognition. The ballot process was overseen by independent advisers, appointed by the CAC.
If staff had voted to support recognition, the GMB would have been given the right to represent them in negotiations over pay and conditions in what would have been the first instance of Amazon recognising a union in the UK.
It would also have been the first time the internet retailer’s workers had won the right of recognition outside the US.
Richards said workers had been told they would get no pay rise this year and would lose benefits if they voted for union recognition. “This kind of union-busting has no place in 21st-century Britain; it’s clear Amazon cannot be trusted to play by the rules that all other companies in the UK are expected to follow,” he said.
“But this is just the beginning. Amazon now faces a legal challenge, while the fire lit by workers in Coventry and across the UK is still burning.”
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Callum Cant, a senior lecturer at the University of Essex who studies the gig economy, said: “Amazon’s anti-union stance has succeeded in this case, but the underlying antagonisms around work intensity and wages that sparked this dispute are still very much in evidence.”
Under current rules, a union cannot reapply for recognition for the same group of workers for three years after losing a ballot. The Labour government has said it will make the process of winning recognition easier, as part of its new deal for working people, but it is unclear whether any changes will help in the Amazon case.
Amazon said: “We want to thank everyone who voted in this ballot. Across Amazon, we place enormous value on engaging directly with our employees and having daily conversations with them. It’s an essential part of our work culture. We value that direct relationship and so do our employees.
“This is why we’ve always worked hard to listen to them, act on their feedback, and invest heavily in great pay, benefits and skills development – all in a safe and inclusive workplace with excellent career opportunities.”