Amazon workers in UK set to stage a three-day strike over pay dispute

Employees at Amazon are calling for a raise in their hourly wage to £15. Image credit: Super Straho on Unsplash.

Around 900 employees at Amazon's distribution center located in Coventry are planning to embark on a strike that will span three consecutive days starting later this week.

GMB, the general trade union of Britain, made the announcement.

According to a statement from GMB sent via email to Reuters, workers at the Coventry warehouse will be participating in a strike from 11th to 13th July. This strike is a result of a disagreement regarding payment and will last for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.

The upcoming three-day protest will align with the online retail titan's "Prime Day" shopping extravaganza, set to occur on the 11th and 12th of July.

The ongoing conflict between Amazon and its workforce revolves around the workers' request to raise their hourly wage to £15 ($19.22).

The blog post states that a tweet was made by GMB Midlands on 10 July. The tweet mentions that almost 900 Amazon employees will go on strike the next day to bring attention to Prime Day. The tweet emphasizes the importance of the workers in the success of the world's biggest online retailer. The blog post highlights that the workers are determined to continue their fight until they achieve a wage of £15 per hour and secure their union rights.

Sky News reports that the initial salary for a worker at Amazon ranges from £11 to £12 per hour, depending on their specific job site.

According to the report, the Coventry warehouse location is not tasked with the responsibility of handling customer interactions and will not have any negative effect on the delivery of orders and other services provided to customers.

In June of this year, GMB made a public statement declaring that the employees working at the Coventry warehouse had collectively chosen to proceed with an additional six months of strikes. The initial strike following this announcement was carried out between the dates of June 12th and June 14th.

In April, over 560 employees of Amazon took part in a strike that lasted for three days, in an effort to address their common concern of inadequate wage increments.