Seven hundred Amazon employees went on strike in support of a $2.44 hourly hike after the company said it would not concede to the union's requests for a wage increase.
Amazon Workers Went on Strike After the Corporation Refused to Grant Their Request
This week's strike by more than 700 warehouse employees at an Amazon facility in England seeking a salary raise. The trade union for the workers sought a £2 (or $2.44) hourly wage rise. Amazon offered a raise of 34 pence in place of that proposal.
Workers at the Tillbury factory (an Essex suburb in Eastern England), according to GMB, the trade union that represents them, walked out on Wednesday (August 3) and Thursday (August 4). Steve Garelick, a regional organizer with GMB, said, "Amazon is one of the most successful firms on the globe." The least they can do is provide adequate wages, given the growing living expense.
After receiving the word from Amazon that it would not accept the union's requests, the Tillbury employees started their walkout, and Garelick released a video of them doing so. The facility's management allegedly "withdrew catering" and threatened to fire staff members if they left the premises.
In 2013, GMB started advocating for improved compensation and working conditions for Amazon warehouse employees in the UK, including requesting a parliamentary investigation into the company's hiring procedures. At Tillbury or any of its other UK-based facilities, Amazon does not recognize the GMB union.
Yesterday, Amazon workers in Rugeley, UK, walked out over a payment problem. Amazon Rugeley announced a 50p wage raise, citing the local average. A worker told The Birmingham Mail that more than 100 employees left the canteen protesting, disrupting customer shipments.
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Amazon UK Drivers and Warehouse Workers Asked the Company to Slow Down
Drivers and warehouse employees for Amazon in the UK have urged the online retailer to stop making them work at an "inhuman pace."
The corporation is urged to bin unjust targets and stop the continuous monitoring in an open letter signed by 135 employees.
They said working at an Amazon warehouse today was very difficult since Prime Day pushed them harder than before. Even the instruments we use, such as scanners, keep tabs on us.
Everyone enjoys a good deal, but Prime Day is one of the riskiest days of the year for Amazon employees, according to Martha Dark, director at the legal organization Foxglove, which is assisting Amazon personnel.
Nine of 10 UK consumers use Amazon, which has seen its revenues in the country increase from £3 billion (3.6 billion USD to £27 billion (32.8 billion USD) in the last ten years. It now has a staff of 33,000 working in warehouses and logistics.
With more than half (55%) of consumers admitting that Amazon was crucial during the lockdowns in 2020, the epidemic has only served to accelerate the growth of online commerce.
However, employees have said that the pressure to meet these goals has made them feel like "slaves" and "robots."
Ambulances have reportedly been summoned to the company's "fulfillment centers" about 1,000 times since 2018 - including 178 callouts to its plant in Tilbury, Essex, according to a report from the previous year.
One Amazon employee who works at the company's facility in the Midlands described how they were 'unfairly' disciplined due to a persistent health concern.
They said that if they missed even one day of work, the sentence would be extended, and they would face further disciplinary actions.
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