Amazon UK Workers Protest Over Pay And Working Conditions

Amazon.Com, Inc’s AMZN U.K. fulfillment center workers prepared for an unprecedented strike.
The 24-hour strike action began on January 25 at midnight, CNBC reports.
Strikers will likely walkout outside the company’s site in Coventry in Central England throughout the day.
Members of the GMB Union working at the retailer’s Coventry depot held a strike ballot in December after Amazon offered a 50 pence-per-hour ($0.56 per hour) hike, equivalent to 5% and well below inflation.
The workers want the company to pay a minimum of £15 an hour and also want better working conditions.
Amazon workers have complained of long working hours and aggressive, tech-enhanced monitoring of employees.
About 98% of workers who voted were in favor of striking, Bloomberg reports.
The strike follows a series of unofficial walkouts and slowdowns at warehouses across the U.K. last year after Amazon shared the pay raise update.
Amazon said that the staff involved represent “only a fraction of 1% of our U.K. employees.”
The pay for Amazon’s U.K. warehouse workers has increased 29% since 2018 and pointed to a £500 one-time payment made out to staff to help with the cost-of-living crisis.
Amazon started laying off employees in 2022 to battle the business slowdown and macro uncertainties. The total layoff will likely reach 18,000, representing about 1% of total employees, a record in itself.
Amazon has shared its plans to shut down three of its warehouses in the U.K. this year, which will impact 1,200 employees.
Amazon succeeded in breaking most unionization efforts in the U.S. by convincing the workers and taking the necessary steps.
Price Action: AMZN shares trade lower by 2.03% at $94.36 premarket on the last check Wednesday.

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