Unite, Britain’s largest trade union, is launching a new campaign to support thousands of Amazon workers in Wales who could be at risk of falling foul to the online shopping behemoth’s exploitative working practices.
As part of this plan for action, Unite has opened a confidential whistle-blowing hotline and will run a substantial advertising campaign to alert Amazon workers that they can blow the whistle and expose poor treatment free from reprisals.
The hotline coincides with the launch of the campaign alliance ‘Action on Amazon’ that is demanding a ‘new deal’ for Amazon workers, including a union and a greater share of the firm’s enormous profits.
This move comes as Amazon workers in the US could be on the cusp of making history after being embroiled in a long battle to establish the first unionised Amazon warehouse in the country. The campaign by Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama has been building a strong head of steam, garnering political and public support across the board despite significant efforts to derail the campaign by Amazon, which is notoriously opposed to the unionisation of its workforce.
Reports of dehumanising working conditions and flimsy employment practices, which have become synonymous with Amazon, continue amid sky-rocketing profits that doubled from 2019 to 2020, propelling Amazon’s until recently CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth to somewhere in the region of $180bn, ranking him as the world’s richest man. To be clear, that sum roughly calculates to Amazon’s lowest paid workers in America earning in a year what Bezos makes in a matter of seconds.
Despite the astronomical amounts of money being made off the back of poorly-paid and precariously employed workers, Amazon appears resolute in its stance on workers organising for better pay and conditions. The company has failed to sign up to either the United Nations Global Compact or the Ethical Trading Initiative – bodies that recognise the right of all workers to a collective voice and are signed up to by most of the biggest names on the high street. This sets a dangerous precedent for a company that currently employs 40,000 people permanently in the UK, as well as 20,000 more on a seasonal basis.
Amazon’s well-documented and dogged anti-union PR campaign took a bizarre twist recently as Twitter began suspending and investigating potentially fake accounts that purported to be Amazon employees who were opposed to worker unionisation. Perhaps the most disturbing of Amazon’s prolific anti-union activities was brought to light by Vice last November, which reported to have uncovered internal documents demonstrating that the tech giant employs a network of intelligence analysts to rigorously monitor labour organising amongst its workers in Europe.
Amazon workers from around Wales will now be better equipped to fight these unjust working practices and will hopefully join Unite in calling on Amazon to sign up to a ‘new deal’, including commitments that recognise workers’ right to unionise. Today (Wednesday 31 March) campaigners will gather at The Senedd to mark the launch of this nationwide campaign as part of a series of regional launches.
Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said:
“Amazon attacks all attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own. This is why Unite is launching ‘Action on Amazon’ to give Amazon workers a voice, so they don’t have to rely on whistle-blowing or calling confidential hotlines.
“Jeff Bezos has become the world’s richest man off the backs of workers who have played a crucial part in so many people’s lives during the pandemic. It is prime time Amazon gave workers in Wales the right to be in a Union and to do so without interference, bullying and intimidation.”
If you’re an Amazon worker who wants to get intouch with Unite, you can do so by calling 08000 141 461 or by visitinghttps://actiononamazon.org/hotline/
