Hundreds of Amazon workers have gone on strike for the first time in the UK in a dispute over wages at the company's warehouse in Coventry. <br /><br />Around 300 employees of the online giant walked out demanding a pay rise in action which was organised by the GMB union. <br /><br />Workers standing on the picket line said they were struggling to support themselves during the cost of living crisis on their current wages. <br /><br />They were given a 5 per cent pay rise, which the union say is worth just 50p an hour, prompting the industrial action outside the firm's fulfilment centre today (Wed). <br /><br />Nazeret Zemuy works as a receiver, sorting parcels coming in to the warehouse, and is currently on £10.50 an hour following a 50p pay rise last August.<br /><br />The 23-year-old, from Birmingham, who works 40 hours a week, said: “We need to be paid more than what we are currently on. I am struggling to support myself.<br /><br />“Everything is getting so much more expensive and it’s hard to cope.<br /><br />“Petrol and living expenses are going up and we need more pay to cope.<br /><br />“I would have to work around 60 hours a week to help support myself better but then I wouldn’t have a life and would constantly be at work.<br /><br />“We need more pay, and it is the only way.”<br /><br />Wandemu Habtemichael, 28, of Coventry, has worked as a receiver at the warehouse since October 2018 and works five, 10 hour shifts a week.<br /><br />He is on £10.80 an hour because he has worked there for more than three years and says he is only striking for better pay and not working conditions.<br /><br />The dad-of-two said: “We are striking for our wages to be increased.<br /><br />“At the moment, it is so expensive to live, and everything is going up.<br /><br />“I have a growing family to support, and this wage makes it hard to do so.<br /><br />“Working conditions at Amazon are good so I am purely out here striking for pay.<br /><br />“Change needs to happen and our pay needs to increase to help us support our families better.”<br /><br />Elena Parascan, 27, from Coventry, is currently paid £10.50 an hour and works around 40 hours a week<br /><br />She said she often picks up overtime to help support her living costs and can work up to 60 hours a week. <br /><br />She said: “I need my salary to be increased.<br /><br />“What Amazon gives us does not match the rate that prices around us are going up.<br /><br />“We need to do something about this and that is why I am on strike.<br /><br />“I am standing here to fight and came here to fight for better pay.<br /><br />“It’s very hard working these long hours and I have to pick up overtime to help support myself as what I am on is not enough.<br /><br />“The work is a lot of manual labour and some of the boxes I have to pick up are 25kg which is very heavy.<br /><br />“When I signed my contract they said I would only be lifting boxes up to 15kg but now I lift boxes 10kg heavier than that.<br /><br />“I need to be paid more for the extra weight and work I am having to do.<br /><br />“It’s very problematic and that is the reality of it.”<br /><br />Stuart Richards has been senior organiser for GMB for the past five years.<br /><br />He said he was standing on the picket line in solidarity with the Amazon workers to fight for better pay after they worked so hard during the Covid pandemic.<br /><br />The 54-year-old said: “It’s really simple why we are standing on the picket line today.<br /><br />“These workers are a group of people who supported Amazon and worked with them through the global pandemic.<br /><br />“They were then awarded with the a small and rather insulting pay rise of 50p last August and ever since then we have been wanting to speak to Amazon about this.<br /><br />“We tried going down the legal route to challenge Amazon but have had no luck and we have been left with no alternative route but to go on strike.<br /><br />“This is a dispute over pay.<br /><br />“What we want is for Amazon to talk to us and to be able to discuss the issues and the need for change with them.<br /><br />“I think the rise to £15 for hourly pay at Coventry Amazon warehouse is reasonable as we know some Amazon workers in the USA are on $18 an hour and workers at other warehouses in the UK are being paid more than they are here.<br /><br />“In the context of Amazon, if they can pay other warehouses and people working for the company in other countries more, they should be able to do the same here.”
