Trade union GMB Union has filed legal proceedings against retail giant Amazon over allegations that it has pressured workers to give up their trade membership.
GMB Union, supported by non-profit organisation Foxglove Legal, announced on Friday it has issued an inducement claim to the Employment Tribunal. The first step the union has taken is filing a claim to Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), an independent public body that has to be informed first before any workplace dispute can be filed.
The union accuses Amazon of widespread attempts to coerce staff to cancel their trade union membership using American style union-busting tactics at its warehouse in Coventry.
It stated that it recently won a formal recognition ballot at the company, a process which requires the union to prove they have meet a threshold of GMB members in the company’s fulfilment centre.
However, GMB accuses the retail giant of pressuring staff to leave the union by “forcing workers to attend hour long anti-union seminars”, and “displaying anti-union messages throughout Amazon workplaces.”
There are also allegations that bosses at Amazon have erected QR codes in its fulfilment centres which generated an email to the union’s membership department requesting that membership is cancelled.
Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser stated: “Amazon is a multi-billion-pound corporation, doing everything in its power to stop minimum wage workers from forming a union. Their latest American anti-union campaign proves they will stop at nothing to beat the rules that every other employer in the UK is expected to follow.”
While a spokesperson for Amazon said: “We agree that everyone has the right to choose to join a union, and that everyone also has the right to leave a union if they choose.”
“Our employees told us how difficult it was to cancel their union membership so we provided information to help, through signs that always state that it’s an employee’s personal choice. Additionally, it is made clear to employees that attendance at meetings is entirely their choice too”
“We have received no notification of legal action and do not believe there is any merit in such a case,” the spokesperson added.