‘Crucial Moment’ For Global Workers’ Rights In Amazon As Unionisation Vote Closes
‘Crucial Moment’ For Global Workers’ Rights In Amazon As Unionisation Vote Closes
The eyes of the trade union world are focused on Alabama as an Amazon workers’ campaign to unionise reaches a ‘crucial moment’, with the close of their recognition ballot later today (Monday 29 March).
In what’s been marked as a turning point for labour relations in the United States, workers are organising under the banner of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to demand better working conditions and an end to worker surveillance at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Bessemer, a south western suburb of the city of Birmingham.
RWDSU representatives will join GMB Scotland union organisers on Wednesday evening at for a special online event, ‘Demands for a Post-COVID World of Work’, to inform and discuss the Bessemer unionisation campaign and its impact on the fight for recognition in Amazon across the world.
GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “This is a crucial moment for workers’ rights but whatever the outcome in Bessemer this unionisation drive is a point of no return for Amazon, not just in the United States but across the world and including Scotland.
“It is a basic human need to want proper value for our work and for that work to be underpinned by basic rights and protections, and it’s why there is a reawakening of the need for unionisation to achieve it.
“The clock is ticking on the unfettered greed of billionaire disrupters and practitioners of precarious work because the COVID-19 pandemic has surfaced all the underlying exploitations that have been left unchallenged over the last decade.
“We are delighted that representatives from Alabama will be joining on us on Wednesday because the challenges facing Amazon workers in Bessemer are the same as those in Bathgate, and we need to learn from each other to make work better post-COVID.”
ENDS
Contact: GMB Scotland Communications on 07976 447077.
Notes to Editors:
GMB Scotland’s Event, ‘Demands for a Post-COVID World of Work’, takes place at 7PM on Wednesday 31 March, at https://www.facebook.com/gmb.scotland
Amazon UK Fulfilment & Warehouse Locations:
Aberdeen, 2-8 Cairnrobin Way, AB12 4NJ
Banbury, 3 Southam Road, OX16 2DJ
Bathgate, Strand Drive, EH48 2EA
Belvedere, 7 Crabtree Manorway, DA17 6AS
Birmingham, Britannia Point, Patent Drive, Wednesbury, WS10 7XB
Bolton Bridgewater Ave, BL5 1BT
Bristol, Poplar Way E, Avonmouth, BS1 1DD
Carlisle, DPN1, CA6 5TR
Chester, DCE1, CH5 2RD
Chesterfield, 26-27 Gander Ln, Barlborough, S43 4FD
Christchurch, Hurn, East Parley, BH23 6NW
Coalville, Interlink Way E, Bardon Hill, LE67 1PD
Coventry, Lyons Park, Coundon Wedge Drive, CV5 9FA
Croydon, 4-8 Queensway, Croydon, CR0 4BD
Darlington, Building One, Symmetry Park, Morton Park Way, DL1 4BF
Daventry, 4 Royal Oak Way N, NN11 8QL
Doncaster, Balby Carr Bank, Balby, DN4 5JS
Doncaster, Iport Avenue, New Rossington, DN11 0BG
Doncaster, Water Vole Way, Balby, DN4 5JP
Droitwich Kingswood Rd, Hampton Lovett, WR9 0QH
Dundee, Unit 3, Riverside Distribution Centre, Riverside Ave, DD2 1UR
Dunfermline, Amazon Way, KY11 8XT
Dunstable, Boscombe Road, LU5 4FE
Durham, MME2, DH6 5NR
Edinburgh, Bankhead Crossway S, Edinburgh, EH11 4FD
Exeter, Unit 1, Exeter Logistics Park, Werstan Rd, EX5 2GB
Fareham 27, Radial, 11 Barnes Wallis Rd, PO15 5EJ
Hemel Hempstead, 2 Eastman Way, HP2 7DU
Glasgow, 77 Durham St, G41 1AA
Gourock, Faulds Park Rd, PA19 1BQ
Gravesend, Northfleet, DA11 9AD
Haydock, Sortation Centre 525 Haydock Park, Haydock, Saint Helens, WA11 9FS
Inverness, 15 Carsegate Rd N, IV3 8DU
Leeds – 3 The Oval, Hunslet, LS10 2AU
Leeds, Skelton Moor Way, LS15
Leeds, Logic Leeds Distribution Park, Pontefract Ln, LS9 0PS
Leeds Network House, Middleton Grove, Beeston, LS11 5PX
Leyland, Enterprise Business Park, Redrose Drive, PR26 6TJ
Liverpool, Knowsley Depot, L33 7RR
Maidstone, Invicta Riverside Unit 1, New Hythe Ln, ME20 7FG
Manchester, Airport City, 6 Sunbank Ln, WA15 0QA
Manchester Trafford Park, Stretford, M17 1TN
Milton Keynes, Marston Gate, MK43 0ZA
Motherwell, Condor Glen, Motherwell, ML1 4UY
Newport, Celtic Business Park, NP19 4QZ
Peterborough, Orton Southgate, PE2 6GX
Plymouth, Tamar House, Thornbury Rd, PL6 7PT
Redhill, Cross Oak Ln, RH1 5EX
Redhill, 9-3 Wells Pl, Merstham, RH1 3AS
Rochester, Unit 1A London Medway Commercial Park, James Swallow Way, ME3 9GX
Rotherham, Unit 48 Waddington Way, S65 3SH
Rugby, Unit 3 Waver Way, CV23 0XF
Rugeley, Towers Business Park, Power Station Road, WS15 1NZ
Shoreham, 5 Brighton Rd, BN43 6RN
Southampton, Unit 8, Hounsdown Business Park, Bulls Copse Rd, SO40 9LR
Stoke-on-Trent, CST9 / DST1, ST4 8ZR
Sunderland, Cherry Blossom Way, Sunderland, SR5 3PL
Swansea, Skewen, SA1 8QX
Tilbury, London Distribution Park, Windrush Road, RM18 7AN
Warrington, Omega Plot 7c, Orion Boulevard, WA5 3XA
Weybridge, Unit 100A, 303 Vickers Dr N, KT13 0YU
Wick, Littlehampton, BN17 6GY
Worsley, Wardley, Worsley, M28 2DP
