As Amazon workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, the story of one warehouse in the UK that pushed to unionise – podcast

Amazon workers in 20 countries are expected to strike or protest on Black Friday, pushing the company to respect their rights and commit to more action on the climate. The protests are coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign, run by a global umbrella body of trade unions and workers’ rights groups.

Amazon is known for its resistance to unions. In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we tell the story of what happened at one warehouse in Coventry in the UK when its workers tried to gain official recognition for the GMB union, one of the country’s biggest labour unions. The ballot was narrowly defeated by a margin of 28 votes, with 50.5% voting against forcing recognition.

We talk to sociologist Tom Vickers, who spent weeks observing workers’ efforts to unionise at Coventry as part of a research secondment with the GMB. And we find out why some companies, many of them American, are so doggedly anti-union, and the tactics they use to persuade workers not to form one.

In January 2023, around 300 workers at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry went on their first official strike. The three-day strike followed months of disgruntlement at a proposed pay rise of 50 pence per hour.

Tom Vickers is an associate professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK where he’s director of the Work Futures Research Group, a new institute co-funded by the university and the GMB Union. Since January 2024, Vickers has conducted in-depth interviews with 11 leaders among the Amazon workers and four GMB organisers. He’s also observed nine strike pickets and six mass strike meetings, and had informal conversations with around 200 workers. He says:

“I don’t think I’ve ever been on such joyful pickets, because just the sense of relief … People are normally under that kind of regimented labour regime inside the warehouse and it’s like: ‘Oh, now we’re just outside and we can actually associate freely with each other and move how we like.’”

Under UK law, anyone can join a union even if it’s not officially recognised by their workplace.

A vote for recognition

After the January strike and others that followed, Amazon workers continued to push for improved pay and conditions until they ultimately won a vote on whether to force Amazon to officially recognise the GMB union at the warehouse. Vickers explained what this would mean:

“It would require Amazon to engage with the union in negotiation over pay and over holidays. And it would also normally include some kind of presence and access for the union within the warehouse.”

From his observations of the union activism in the lead up to the ballot, Vickers said it was difficult for worker leaders at the warehouse, whose time is strictly monitored in a regimented work environment, to make the case to their colleagues to join the union, and vote in favour of its official recognition. This contrasted to Amazon’s own efforts to persuade workers to vote against, which Vickers says played to workers’ fears over their job security.

“I think the central point of Amazon’s campaign was saying that to stay without recognition is to stay with what you already know, and that’s safe. To recognise the union is bringing all this uncertainty and who knows what could happen.”

Despite the failure to force union recognition in the ballot, in early September 2024 Amazon UK increased its minimum pay for staff by 9.8% to between £13.50 and £14.50 an hour, depending on the location.

The Conversation approached Amazon for comment on the allegations about its anti-union practices and treatment of workers raised in this episode. The company did not respond.

Economics, control and ideology

Amazon is not the only American corporation that opposes unionisation. In the US, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency, has accused Amazon, Starbucks and the grocer Trader Joe’s of retaliating against staff for union organising.

In response, all three companies have joined a challenge led by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court. The case could eventually make it up to the US Supreme Court.

So why are these companies, many of them American, so concertedly anti-union? John Logan, a professor of labour and employment studies at San Francisco State University in the US, says it’s a combination of three factors:

“Economics, the obsession with unilateral control of the workplace that’s especially strong in the United States, and this sort of ideological belief that unions are bad for business and only companies that deserve them will get a union.”

However, Logan is optimistic about the future of union organising in the US, mainly because of the engagement of young people in new and different ways. He pointed to the success of union organising of workers at Starbucks and Trader Joe’s.

“Young people are energised, enthusiastic, optimistic and attracted to labour issues in a way that’s never been true in my lifetime in the 25 years I’ve been studying unions in the US.”

Listen to the full episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast to hear the full story. The episode also includes an introduction from Sarah Reid, business and economy editor at The Conversation UK.

Newsclips in this episode from Channel 4 News, Bloomberg Television, GB News, ITV News and The Independent.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced and written by Katie Flood and Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.

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Tom Vickers was on part-time secondment from Nottingham Trent University to the GMB between January and July 2024, funded by NTU. His research has received funding from a wide range of sources, including the ESRC, British Academy, Hope Projects (West Midlands) Ltd, Nottinghamshire County Council, and Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum. John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.