Amazon workers launch battle to unionize in Britain

Amazon.com workers are trying to unionize at a major warehouse in the U.K., as the company’s standoff with labor groups enters a new front.

The GMB officially applied for union recognition Friday on behalf of its members at a distribution center in Coventry, in England’s West Midlands.

If successful, it would be the first British labor group to win the right to negotiate with the U.S. technology company.

Amazon workers in Coventry have already held strikes to protest pay raises that fall below the U.K.’s stubbornly high level of inflation.

Staff at two other warehouses are also being balloted for potential industrial action.

Still, by formally unionizing, workers in Coventry would increase their bargaining power through direct negotiations over pay and the right to have union representatives within the warehouse.

It echoes a long-running battle in the U.S., where Amazon has challenged widespread attempts at unionization.

Last year, staff at a New York fulfillment center won a surprise victory in their fight for greater labor rights. However, it remains the only unionized Amazon facility in the U.S.

Amanda Gearing, a senior organizer for the GMB, said Amazon had “flat-out refused” to negotiate pay with the union, a key reason for pursuing official recognition.

She said more than 700 workers in Coventry were members of the GMB, passing a threshold of 51% needed to be recognized as a union.

Amazon employs about 75,000 workers across the U.K.

The GMB started the process by writing to the Central Arbitration Committee, an official tribunal body that deals with workplace disputes.

The row could run on for months, including time for Amazon to challenge the application.

“It’s going to be a bit of a pass or fail for Amazon I think,” said Blair Adams, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood who specializes in employment law. “If the GMB have got the relevant thresholds for support, I can’t see why they won’t get recognition.”

The GMB is also balloting members at Amazon warehouses in Rugeley and Mansfield for strike action at those sites. The result of the ballots is due on June 9.

“Amazon respects our employees’ rights to join, or not to join, a union,” a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement.

“We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern, work environment.”