2m ago Amazon workers stage Black Friday walkout at Coventry
Amazon staff members on a GMB union picket line outside the online retailer’s site in Coventry Photograph: Jacob King/PA
Some Amazon workers in the UK are on strike today to coincide with Black Friday – which is typically one of the company’s busiest shopping days of the year. More than 1,000 staff at the firm’s warehouse in Coventry are expected to take part in the walkout, the GMB union said, amid a
long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Some people have already gathered at a picket line outside the site. A protest will also be held outside Amazon’s UK head office in London. Strikes and demonstrations are also being held in other European countries and the US, which unions say will be the biggest day of action in Amazon’s history. insists consumers won’t see any disruption, and that its pay rates were well above the National Living Wage and the voluntary Real Living Wage, while benefits included private medical insurance, life assurance, subsidised meals and an employee discount spokesperson says:
“We regularly review our pay to ensure we offer competitive wages and benefits.
By April 2024, our minimum starting pay will have increased to £12.30 and £13 per hour depending on location, that’s a 20% increase over two years and 50% since 2018.
Amanda Gearing, GMB organiser, called the walkout an “unprecedented and historic moment”, as low-paid workers taking on one of the world’s most powerful corporations”.
“Amazon has lost nearly thirty days to strike action in the UK this year alone.
“Despite that, Amazon bosses are desperate to claim it will be business as usual for Amazon and Amazon customers this Black Friday.
“The truth is that this Black Friday will see the largest day of industrial disruption in Amazon’s thirty-year history.
“Coventry is the beating heart of Amazon’s distribution network; strike action on Black Friday will ripple throughout the company’s UK logistics.
“With industrial action escalating and workers joining strike action in Europe and the USA, it’s clear that Coventry workers are inspiring Amazon workers worldwide to fight for their share of company profits.
Amazon staff members on a GMB union picket line outside the online retailer’s site in Coventry today Photograph: Jacob King/PA Staff in Coventry have held other strikes days already this autumn , In January, workers at the site – who have complained that they have been treated “like robots” – began a strike, the first time the corporation has faced industrial action in the UK. Updated at 02.25 EST
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