Despite a sustained and high profile campaign by the GMB union, Amazon has so far been able to ignore the pressure for change to its regime of pay and work working conditions. This is because while the GMB and civil society allies can mount actions outside of Amazon workplaces, they are unable to gain much of a presence inside. Consequently, the degree of leverage over the company from the outside remains weak as it is not able to connect with the necessary leverage inside the company.
The GMB general union, the third biggest, is the union which has mounted the most sustained campaign to unionise Amazon workers and improve their pay and conditions at the company’s 12 sites (Croydon, Doncaster, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Gourock, Hemel Hemstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley, Swansea, Slough, and London). Amazon employs around 15,000 workers but far from all are directly employed. Many are legally employed by employment agencies on a part-time and temporary basis.
The GMB’s
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