AN AMAZON worker was threatened with the sack for taking time off after being diagnosed with cancer, a festival audience heard on Saturday.

The Coventry warehouse worker, who asked to remain anonymous due to fears of repercussions over speaking out, said: “Four years ago I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Amazon’s policy is: after two weeks of being off, you have to have a health review meeting.

“They went out of the room and said … we are going to give you a verbal warning. They gave me a letter of concern.

“Now I wish the union was there, because that would have been thrown out in seconds. They would have just said: ‘It’s illegal, go away, don’t come back.’

“I’ve had multiple things like this … You can see how quickly and how brutal they can be.”

The worker said the historic GMB union recognition battle was lost earlier this month because bosses had managed to convince young migrant workers on temporary student visas that they would lose their jobs or potential promotions if they voted Yes to recognition.

He said: “This is not the end: this is just another fight, another punch that we will take in and we will keep going.

“I started on the picket line in November with guys from Spain, Germany and Italy, from America. Who knows? Maybe next year we could have the worldwide Amazon strike.

“I’m one of the lucky ones because I don’t have kids or a family, but most of my co-workers are doing a 60-hour week in the back of a trailer in 40° heat. Then on Friday night, they go on their bicycles and they start riding around Coventry or Birmingham doing Uber Eats, just so they can pay the bills.”