“Amazon won’t give you anything if you don’t fight for it,” a union organiser shouted through a bullhorn as dozens of angry workers went on strike outside the US tech warehouse in Coventry, central England.
“We want to get paid more. One of my kids has eczema. I told him to take a bath every other day, but I can’t pay for the hot water “Kaur told that she didn’t want to give her first name.
The 40-year-old mother of three works mostly at night and on her feet. She wears a red hat and a dark puffer jacket to keep out the cold winter air.
She makes more than the national minimum wage per hour, which is £10.50 ($12.58), plus a small night premium.
During the crisis, her energy costs have gone up and her grocery bill has more than doubled, making it “hard to survive.” The overall rate of inflation in the UK is around 10%.
Energy prices are starting to go down, but food prices are still going up by 17 percent.
Valentina, who works at Amazon and is 37 years old, said that the pay was too low for how hard the work was.
“We lift heavy boxes weighing 15, 17, 20, and 25 kilos every day. So you’re doing harm to yourself, “she told me.
Antonio Daniel, who is 22 years old, drives 74 miles every day for work and often works at night, which makes it very hard for him to sleep.
Health is at risk
“During Covid, we put our health and lives at risk, and they made a lot of money,” said Dan, who is 29.
Now “To pay our bills, we have to work 60 hours a week. We don’t have time for our family, which is tiring “.
In 2022, Amazon’s global sales went up by 9% to $514 billion, but the company’s operating profit dropped by 50% to $12.2 billion because of big cost increases. It is trying to save money by cutting 18,000 jobs around the world.
A spokesman for the company said that employees get things like discounts on products, free meals, and health insurance.
A spokesperson for Amazon said that the strikes this week only involve “a tiny fraction” of the company’s workers.
Stuart Richards, who works for the GMB trade union, said that Coventry was the only Amazon site in the country where employees really had a voice.
Richards said that between Tuesday and Thursday, about 400 employees walked out.
About 1,200 people work at the site as a whole.
A law firm has also filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Amazon delivery workers. They want to be seen as employees instead of subcontractors.
Richards said that “very few of them are from the UK” and that they don’t always know their rights and are often uncomfortable standing up for them. He was talking about the strikers who had gathered under orange tents on Thursday night.
Management doesn’t talk to the union at all, Richards said, and the company makes things “incredibly hard” for the union.
He also said that the company’s “constant” measurement of performance puts too much pressure on employees and causes a “huge number of injuries.”
