Strike.
You can turn round if you want.
This is a picket line.
Amazon workers have just blocked the road leading to their workplace.
“The workers united!”
“Will never be defeated!”
“The workers united!”
“Will never be defeated!”
“Bring your colleagues on the picket line and show strength!”
Their managers look on,
as the strikers try to get more workers on their side.
Are you a member ma'am as well?
Are you a member?
Employees at this warehouse in Coventry are making history
as they stage the first ever strike against Amazon in the UK.
All I’d like,
Okay, is for the traffic to flow
so I can unblock the (traffic) island
You’ve got the right to go and talk to anyone who’s in the queue.
The cars here in the long queue
most of them want to be a member, but they don't know (how).
They don't have that right information.
So we’re out here on this picket line just making them realize some of the information
encouraging them to be part of the picket line.
Yeah,
do you want better pay?
Everyone wants better pay.
I work in Amazon, I know right.
I worked through the pandemic in Amazon.
I started in 2020.
It was a very depressing era with the COVID going on, with the social distancing.
We were still coming to work, but we were not allowed to socially
connect with each other due
to the rules and regulations that was being put in place.
Most importantly,
it was one of the most busiest periods in Amazon,
because Amazon was one of the companies that was still sending orders and
deliveries outside because people didn't have the chance to go out.
So Amazon was sending deliveries outside
so that means they have earned, they are one of the companies
that have earned a lot during the pandemic
and considering such a huge gain and then paying
their workers who have put in that hard work, just 50p.
It's an insult,
and I feel like Amazon can do more.
The GMB union, which has nearly 460,000 members
across all industrial sectors, stepped in to support the Amazon workers
after they were offered a pay rise of just 50 pence.
This is an employer that isn't exactly known for its good
employment relations and certainly not its relationship with the trade unions.
As we've seen in the ten years that we've been supporting Amazon workers,
Amazon will not seek to engage with us at all.
So the engagement we have with our members is primarily offsite on gate jobs.
So this is a huge step forward.
Amazon spends a huge amount of time and money trying to keep
us out of - the warehouse.
They think we are the union.
Effectively they've got it very, very wrong in this instance.
The union’s in there, the union’s actually this group of workers
taking strike action.
This is a huge step forward for us.
This is a huge step forward for them.
And hopefully the beginning of a move that we can take in supporting
Amazon workers, not just in this warehouse,
but others, to actually start to unionize, and get better pay and conditions.
“Stuart, can I have a cup of tea, two sugars?”
We've got all sorts of issues that are happening inside.
But the bulk of the issues are around the way that they
play one worker off against another worker with regards to their targets.
So it's a real pressured environment in there.
So you've got people that have got all sorts of injuries
because they're just not able to stop, take the right breaks,
they are not able to do manual handling or anything like that because it's
a really difficult environment
and if they don't work as hard
as they possibly can, they find themselves on a disciplinary.
The complaint that I would have is that when we then fail
in our job, we need time off to recover,
we may find ourselves being punished by Amazon's health policy.
When the robots break or don't work, they have a team of expensive technicians
to service them and they're put back to right.
Whereas if we go off because of it, burnout for want of a better word,
we then will face a disciplinary procedure
which will then kind of have an adverse effect on us.
If we go off again
we can find ourselves quickly being threatened with the loss of the job.
We all work
making a company one of the billion dollar companies in the world,
but we still don't feel appreciated.
So with the cost of living and everything going on right now
that is really draining on a lot of people.
It’s making a lot of people feel depressed
that is really draining on a lot of people. is making a lot of people feel depressed
because they have to drive from a very long way to get to work
and then when they get to work, put in a lot of hours,
instead of them getting paid properly, they just get a pay rise of 50p.
In terms of inflation
things have gone up so much that it's led
for us to actually make a stand.
I mean, before I was sitting on the actual fence, I was just observing
and thinking, should I, shan't I, should I, shan’t I?
And then I thought, hang on a minute.
You know, there's more and more people joining GMB and actually I think
I need to support my colleagues.
Hence why I came out and thought, why not?
I need to support my colleagues. Hence why I came out and thought, why not?
You know, every voice matters.
So that's one of the main reasons really, it's just purely the fact
of not being able to have enough money coming in to pay our bills.
You know, it's just basic needs.
If we don't get to a point where those bosses start to listen, engage,
and actually resolve the issues that we have here,
we're going to see an escalation of what's already happening.
We're going to see a continuation
of those disputes until we drag those employers kicking
and screaming to the point at which they start to resolve those issues.
I mean, it's across the UK, but it's also global as well, to be honest.
I mean, Amazon workers across the globe are coming together.
We had Chris Smalls that has been organizing
in New York over this week and meeting with some of our workers.
So, you know, it's absolutely fantastic.
We've got other fulfillment centers
that are contacting us now and saying that they want to do the same thing.
You know, the pay at the moment
is just appalling and people can't live on that pay.
So, you know, they feel like they've got nowhere to go.