The new MPs who entered parliament were warmly welcomed by Amazon, the retail and logistics giant widely accused of performing poorly and fighting unions.
In a congratulatory email sent to all new MPs, Amazon discussed the recent union popularity vote at the BHX4 site in Coventry, where staff narrowly voted against union popularity. He says: “At Amazon, we put a huge price on interacting directly with our staff and having conversations with them. We value this direct relationship, and so do our staff.
What the email didn’t mention was the crusade of anti-union tricks that preceded the vote. These “daily conversations” included mandatory hour-long anti-union seminars, in which Amazon officials told staff that unionizing meant they could lose out on wage increases given to other sites.
The email is just one sign that Amazon is taking risks in the face of a new government that could theoretically curb its excesses.
In June 2022, Keir Starmer said at the GMB convention that Amazon “should be GMB. “
However, after 37 days of strike action and almost two years later, the business giant remains decidedly non-unionized. After Amazon refused to voluntarily recognize the union, Coventry staff last month narrowly voted against unionization.
A sustained anti-union crusade saw Amazon plaster the warehouse with anti-union posters, including QR codes that generated an email to GMB calling for union membership to be cancelled.
After the election, GMB and Amazon are eagerly watching the new minister to see if his government will take action to take on the business giant.
If passed, several commitments in the Labour manifesto could limit the company’s immense advertising force in the United Kingdom and undermine its anti-union stance.
Although not explicitly aimed at Amazon, the workers’ rights bill to be introduced in the first hundred days of the Labor government (until October 13) may remove some of the obstacles GMB faced in its war to unionize the warehouse. Coventry.
The GMB has sought access to Amazon warehouses for 12 years and has been forced to do most of its organizing and recruiting work outside the building’s doors. Currently, unions do not have a general right to provide workspace and communicate with workers, but the bill promises to replace this, giving unions the right to provide workspace and communicate with workers.
The bill commits to lowering the threshold for unions needing an office to conduct a popularity vote and allowing workers to vote electronically.
Labour’s proposed public procurement reforms, which have largely gone unnoticed, could also have an effect on Amazon.
Amazon earned £222 million in 2022 from public sector contracts, with 99% of identifiable spend going to Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing arm.
The gigantic government contracts awarded to Amazon Web Services are what makes the company such a formidable adversary to unions, as the company can use the huge profits it makes from cloud computing to offset the losses in the retail industry inflicted by the strike, thus avoiding the strike. Formation
At the GMB 2023 conference, Amazon striker Garfield Hylton asked Starmer: “What will a Labor government do to stop Amazon receiving cash if it continues to reject the popularity of the workers union?
Starmer, who called the GMB’s bid for popularity a “fantastic campaign”, said public money is not a “struggle” and that a new Labour government has the right to ask “what are the conditions” that were granted to it. in.
While the Labour Party’s original “New Deal for Workers” pledged to reform public procurement, that promise was scrapped in May, as part of an overall backsliding on the document.
While the new updated agreement still promises to “ensure that the popularity and access of trade unions are valued and taken into account in the procedure for the award of public contracts and identification of strategic suppliers”, this commitment is no longer part of the Labour Rights Bill.
Instead, the document says that an express public procurement bill will be implemented. However, the King’s speech did not mention any draft law on public procurement and no date was suggested for it.
Stuart Richards, a senior organizer at GMB, said: “Late last year we saw Amazon win around £900m of public sector contracts while spending huge sums of time and money trying to stop workers from organizing their workplace. job.
“Unions have the opportunity to change the situation. We have achieved a commitment to link public procurement to union jobs and unionized industries. Now this commitment will have to be maintained.
Whether it’s a labor-intensive renovation, Amazon is not taking any chances. Faced with the new law and the GMB’s close relationship with the Labour Party, one of its biggest union donors, the corporate giant has launched a new lobbying offensive.
Behind the scenes, the company looks after newcomers to Parliament.
The new MPs were invited to attend a welcome reception for the newly supported MPs through Amazon.
The occasion is organized through House magazine, a publication of the Houses of Parliament. According to the invitation: “This occasion is kindly sponsored through Amazon. Amazon has had a presence in the United Kingdom for more than 25 years, employing more than 75,000 people. people in the retail, technology and creative sectors, and helping 100,000 SMEs based in the United Kingdom succeed with their customers.
“You can engage with your team to find out how they can build your constituents. ”
A new Labor MP has responded to Amazon’s proposals. On LinkedIn, Swindon North MP Will Stone wrote: “Had the thrill of visiting the Amazon BRS2 [sic] distribution center today! It’s engaging to take a look at the generation used on the site and hear their plans to introduce more green energy on site.
In the summer of 2022, BRS2 staff participated in a wave of wildcat movements that arose over pay issues and operating conditions. In November 2023, the GMB protested outdoors at the Swindon depot in solidarity with the ongoing strike at Coventry.
GMB organiser David McMullen said: “It is only in the Midlands that members are paid low wages and we must highlight this in Swindon. »
The workforce already appears to be working hard with Amazon’s cloud computing department.
On July 25, Science and Technology Minister Peter Kyle announced that the government would fund an £8 million contribution from Amazon for the United Kingdom Biobank’s cloud computing garage, a fitness data center.
Kyle said, “This is just the beginning of our plan to work hand in hand with industry and academia, to harness the power of the life sciences to grow our economy and bring health care to life. “
Kyle isn’t the only minister who doesn’t seem fazed by Amazon’s blatant anti-union actions. Last week, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy publicly welcomed Amazon’s investment in the British arts industries, following the U. S. company’s acquisition of Bray Studios. Nandy said the move would ensure the studio continued to “play a role in our major film industries. “
Polly Smythe is a labor correspondent for Novara Media.
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