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STRIKING Amazon workers are “standing strong against disgusting intimidation” from bosses, they told fellow trade unionists today.
Addressing a fringe meeting at GMB congress 2023, workers from the US-owned online retail giant’s Coventry warehouse slammed management for “taking us for a ride” but stressed their historic walkouts are “empowering” colleagues globally.
Striker Darren Westwood blasted a 50p pay rise, which prompted staff in the West Midlands to launch the first British-based Amazon strike last January, as a “smack in the teeth” which had galvanised the workforce.
Speaking in Brighton, he added: “A famous man once said people are like steam. If you ignore them, they just dissipate.
“But if you harness that energy, you can move anything — and that’s what we’re doing.”
GMB organiser Amanda Gearing hailed the workers for overcoming numerous “barriers to organising” and helping to swell union membership at the site from about 60 to more than 800.
In an earlier speech to congress, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Amazon to recognise the general union and pledged to use public procurement to create “good union jobs.”
GMB research reveals the firm benefitted from £222 million of public money last year.
