Active Coventry Amazon strike should be a boost to other sites

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News from the battle at Amazon, PCS strikes, Ash Field school, Unite union NHS strikes and more

Active picketing backed strikes in Coventry last week (Picture: David Kersey)

Workers at an Amazon fulfilment centre in Coventry are standing firm with strikes on Wednesday and Friday last week. Picket lines were impressive in their size and militancy.

On Wednesday around 400 workers picketed. They recruited another 40 people to the GMB union.

One recent union recruit said managers had previously bullied them into taking holiday leave to attend medical appointments. They told Socialist Worker, “I’m in the union. I’m not having that anymore.”

Strikes on Wednesday ended with a march and speeches—translated into three languages.

On Friday around 100 workers stood in the road to stop traffic from passing. Workers continued their tactic of talking to every person entering the site by car.

Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, said, “Our members won’t accept a pay rise of pennies from one of the world’s wealthiest corporations. The mood amongst GMB members on the picket line is sky high. They’ve had huge support in Coventry and from fellow Amazon workers around the globe.

“Meanwhile Amazon top brass are one day promising vouchers and competitions to win over staff, the next they’re setting up barriers around their fulfilment centres to keep staff union representatives away.

“Our members won’t be convinced by anything less than £15 an hour and for Amazon to talk pay with their union”.

The members of the GMB union at the fulfilment centre have now completed 16 days of strikes.

Workers in Coventry now have to vote in a reballot to renew their mandate for action. If their ballot is successful, they could strike with other workers next time.

Workers at Amazon ­warehouses in Rugeley and Mansfield have declared they want to strike over pay.

In the fulfilment centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire, some 98 percent of workers said they wanted to escalate. In Mansfield, 100 percent of workers voted to back the strike. As both were indicative ballots, the GMB members will begin a formal strike vote soon.

More workers at fulfilment centres in Coalville and Kegworth in Leicestershire and Rugby in Warwickshire are also planning to vote for strikes.

If workers vote to strike in other fulfilment centres, they must take inspiration from workers in Coventry and build big militant picket lines.

These civil service talks are not the way to win on pay

Two civil service unions are moving towards possible deals with the government—and they are not likely to be what’s needed. The Prospect union, which represents workers in technical, managerial and scientific roles, has halted a strike scheduled for June.

The FDA, which represents top civil servants, has suspended a ballot of its members that was due to start this week.

Both unions reported that the government had extended new invitations for talks. But that doesn’t translate into sufficient cash on the table.

This comes after previous talks resulted in an average pay offer of just 4.5 percent, substantially lower than for other public sector workers.

The main civil service union, the PCS, was “hoping for meaningful talks this week”.

But it is still calling action. The union has announced strike dates for driver and vehicle licensing agency (DVLA) workers in Swansea, involving 15 consecutive days of industrial action starting on Sunday 11 June.  Due to shift working, the first strike begins at 10pm.

This latest targeted action follows a resounding 97 percent vote in favour of industrial action on a turnout of 54 percent at the DVLA.

The PCS says its strike programme, “demonstrates to the government that it needs to take our demands seriously. We are determined to keep the pressure on.”

All the strikes deserve full support. But national action would have a much better chance of shifting the Tories.

Ash Field strikers won’t back off from pay battle

Support workers at Ash Field Academy in Leicester have been overwhelmed with solidarity from other trade unionists as their current strikes draw to a close.

The teaching assistants, administrative officers and residential support workers across the trust struck for three days last week. They are fighting for a proper pay rise. Leicester  Academy bosses are paying them less than equivalent roles in local authority schools, despite their jobs being highly skilled.

Ash Field Academy is a specialist school for students with “complex medical conditions or serious physical disabilities.”

Workers have been offered a mere £1,925 pay rise for the upcoming year.

Yet these workers are already paid so little some are turning to food banks or leaving the job entirely.

Tom Barker, Unison union rep at Ash Field said, “Industrial action is not a measure any of us takes lightly, least of all in settings where we support vulnerable people.

“But we are in the middle of a profound cost of living crisis with real wages in sharp decline. Support staff in my workplace cannot afford another pay cut.”

• The first national ballot on industrial action in the 150-year history of the Association of School and College Leaders will run from 19 June to 31 July.

It is part of the response to the Tories’ pay-cutting offers in schools. But the NEU union should not march at the pace of the slowest in calling action.

Unite members set for NHS strikes

Ambulance workers in Yorkshire were set to strike on Friday this week over pay.

Hundreds of Unite union members at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS), including paramedics and call handlers, are scheduled to walk out from 2pm to 10pm.

Unite is the smallest of the three unions which represent ambulance workers, alongside Unison and the GMB.

Its national lead officer, Onay Kasab, said, “Our members are entirely committed to their jobs, but can no longer stand idly by as they watch the NHS crumble around them, which is placing patients in danger on a daily basis.”

• Unite members from across the Guy’s and St Thomas’ workforce, including nurses and other frontline workers, planned a 24-hour strike beginning at 7am on Thursday this week.