An Amazon Unionizing Bid in Britain Stumbles

At the Coventry warehouse, where workers break down large shipments to be sent to other fulfillment centers, employees have joined the GMB Union, a 130-year-old organization that has more than 500,000 members in a variety of occupations. (Its name comes from early initials for its membership: General, Municipal, Boilermakers.) They went on strike for the first time in January after members approved the action through a mail-in ballot late last year, after an earlier ballot failed.

Their chief demand: 15 pounds, about $18.60, an hour. (Amazon’s starting salaries in Britain are £11 to £12 an hour, depending on location, up from £10 to £11 last summer.)

The workers’ other, more recent goal is forcing Amazon to negotiate with the union.

After more than 700 employees joined GMB, the union submitted a request to Amazon for voluntary recognition in late April, believing that its members represented at least half the work force, which had been reported last year as about 1,400. Recognition would allow the union to collectively negotiate on pay, holidays and other working conditions for all employees at the warehouse.

Amazon rejected the request, and the application was submitted to the Central Arbitration Committee, a government body, in early May to determine if the workers had met the conditions for union recognition.

But on Thursday, the GMB abruptly said it had withdrawn its bid because Amazon reported to the arbitration committee that it had 2,700 workers, putting the union membership closer to 25 percent. Rather than risk the bid’s failing, the union withdrew it.

Amanda Gearing, an organizer for GMB, said the application would be resubmitted when it had the right number of union members.