Marvin OnumonuAmazon is set to face a legal challenge at London Central Employment Tribunal after a union recognition vote at its Coventry warehouse narrowly missed the mark.
A total of 49.5% of the 2,600 workers who voted backed union recognition at the Midlands site in July last year, falling short by just 28 votes.
The vote followed several weeks where workers were given anti-union messages and attended a number of company-run seminars.
The tribunal will consider an inducement claim brought forward by the GMB union, which argues that Amazon broke employment law during the campaign.
Amanda Gearing, senior organiser at GMB, said: “GMB members at Amazon Coventry were a 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.”
A spokesperson from Amazon said: “The recognition ballot was overseen by an independent third-party organisation appointed by the CAC (Central Arbitration Committee). The third-party organisation’s report contains no suggestion of any irregularities or unfairness. We are confident that a fair ballot process was followed.
“With an 86% turnout of those eligible to vote, the independent ballot result was a robust articulation of the collective voices of our colleagues at our site in Coventry.
“As part of the ballot process, the GMB had access to our site and employees, they held group and individual meetings on site with employees and were able to distribute leaflets to employees and communicate GMB messaging onsite using digital screens.”
