Independent retailers body urges shoppers to buy on high street amid Amazon strike

UK’s retailers’ body British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) has urged shoppers to support the high street as the online retailer Amazon is hit by strikes.

Hundreds of staff at the Coventry warehouse have been the first to strike over pay, which has marked the retail giant’s first experience of industrial action in the UK.

However BIRA, which works with over 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes across the UK, has said that although they support fair pay for workers, it has also highlighted where buyers should be thinking about spending their cash.

BIRA CEO Andrew Goodacre said, “We do believe that workers should get reasonable pay for the long hours they do. However we do also want shoppers to consider more now where they spend their money and to look closer to home for this.

“By shopping on your local high street this not only supports local businesses, but allows them to thrive and offer even better services and goods. Its a reason to trust and return to the high street and put your money into keeping it alive, rather than multinational companies who look at profit rather than people,” he said.

Amazon workers’ strike action is a months-long wrangle over pay, marking the first time the US tech giant’s operations in Britain have faced strike action. About 300 employees in Coventry are expected to take part in the industrial action, according to the trade union GMB.

Amazon increased starting pay by 50 pence to a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour last year. The country’s minimum wage, which is currently £9.50 an hour, is set to rise to 10.42 in April.

Setting out the strike date earlier this month, GMB senior organiser Amanda Gearing urged Amazon to give workers “a proper pay rise,” saying staff at one of the world’s most valuable companies should not have to strike to “win a wage they can live on.”