Landmark union bid by Amazon UK staff loses narrowly

US e-commerce giant Amazon has fractionally fought off a bid by workers in Britain to win union recognition for the first time, the outcome of a ballot showed Wednesday.

A total of 2,600 workers at the company’s hub in Coventry, central England, voted 49.5-percent in favour of union recognition, just short of a necessary majority.

The vote was brought by the GMB union, which following the tight contest accused Amazon of “union busting tactics”, adding it would pursue legal action over the result.

“Workers have been told they will get no pay rise this year and will have to lose even more benefits if they vote for union recognition,” GMB senior organiser Stuart Richards claimed in a statement.

“Amazon now faces a legal challenge, while the fire lit by workers in Coventry and across the UK is still burning. GMB will carry on the fight for the pay and recognition they deserve,” he added.

In a separate statement, Amazon said it looked forward to continuing dialogue with its staff in Coventry – but without union recognition, which in Britain allows staff to negotiate with management over pay and other working conditions.

“Across Amazon, we place enormous value on engaging directly with our employees and having daily conversations with them,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the company had “always worked hard to listen to them, act on their feedback, and invest heavily in great pay, benefits and skills development — all in a safe and inclusive workplace with excellent career opportunities”.

Amazon employs about 75,000 staff in the UK, whose new Labour government on Wednesday said it would seek to strengthen workers’ rights as the centre-left administration outlined its plans for the next 12 months.