Amazon in Britain: Union sets up hotline to expose unfair treatment of staff

Company criticised over practices at its warehouses as Unite campaigns for workers’ rights

Amazon is fighting efforts to unionise its workforce in Alabama, as Britain's Unite union set up a hotline for Amazon staff in the UK. Reuters

A British union has launched a confidential hotline for Amazon workers as part of efforts to secure union recognition for its 40,000 workers in the UK.

The hotline was announced in a series of adverts in regional newspapers close to major company sites in the UK and Ireland.

The company says it has invested more than £23 billion ($31.68bn) in the UK but has faced criticism for its labour practices and complaints about its warehouse working conditions.

The company has been a major beneficiary of the coronavirus pandemic with its home deliveries filling the gap created by shop closures during periods of lockdown. Amazon added 10,000 workers to its ranks in 2020.

Unite said the hotline was to expose unfair and poor treatment as it pushes for a new deal for workers at the company headed Jeff Bezos, the man rated the world's richest person with wealth of $180bn, according to Forbes magazine. The company nearly doubled its profits in 2020, the largest increase in its 26-year history.

“Amazon attacks all attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own," Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said.

“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 time Amazon gave workers the right to be in a union and to do so without interference, bullying and intimidation.”

The company announced in February that it would create another 1,000 apprenticeships in the UK, and said its employees already received “excellent pay, excellent benefits and excellent opportunities".

"Our competitive wages start at £9.70 or £10.80 per hour depending on location, and we’d encourage anyone to compare this to the wages and benefits offered by other retailers," it said.

The Unite campaign was launched in the final stages of a closely-fought battle for union recognition of some 5,800 workers in the US state of Alabama.

Ballot boxes are due to close on Monday and could mark the first time an Amazon warehouse becomes unionised in the US.

Amazon lobbied hard against the union vote.