Over a year ago, Amazon workers formally lodged an Inducement Claim against their own employer for encouraging them to pass up their trade union and collective bargaining rights.
This Tuesday (6th May) Amazon workers won a positive ruling at preliminary hearing that will allow them to have their full evidence heard about Amazon’s union-busting actions once the case begins. Previously, Amazon’s lawyers had attempted to force a separate hearing on a technical point that would have shielded Amazon from having to explain their actions.
The case centres around Amazon’s behaviour ahead of a statutory trade union recognition vote, which saw 49.5 per cent of the 2,600 workers back recognition at the Midlands facility in July last year, falling short by just 28 votes.
The claim itself included that Amazon had pressured staff to leave the union, forced workers to attend anti-union seminars, and bullied union representatives amongst Amazon staff.
The next hearing is on 19 December 2025.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser said:
“GMB members at Amazon Coventry were handful of votes away from winning historic union recognition.
But they were up against a multi-billion-pound business who used all the dirty tricks they could to stop these workers having a voice.
We believe it was not a fair fight and Amazon broke employment law.
Today is the first step in the fight for justice for low paid Amazon workers.”
Since coming into force almost 25 years ago, the statutory recognition procedure has been beset with problems, and the Amazon dispute highlights just how ineffective the recognition procedure is when confronted with well organised employer campaigns designed to resist recognition.
On this issue, the IER has called for a revision of ballot rules that takes into account the experiences of trade unions at Amazon and other employers so that:
- the vote is conducted electronically wherever the union requests;
- only those workers who are in employment at the time the recognition application is accepted are permitted to vote;
- access to the workforce is organised on an equitable basis to ensure campaign fairness, prohibiting captive audience meetings by employers;
- employers are prohibited from:
- interfering with the relationship between workers and their trade unions, for example by encouraging, facilitating or inducing them to resign from membership; AND
- interfering with trade union recognition whether voluntary or statutory, for example by encouraging or seeking to persuade workers not to support it.
- If a recognition application is unsuccessful, the opportunity to make a fresh claim should be reduced from three years to three months.
Read our factsheet on trade union recognition here.
