The GMB union claims to have enrolled a majority of UK workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, which would qualify them for legal recognition.
This would be the first time that Amazon has recognised a trade union in the UK.
The GMB has written to the company asking for recognition, but Amazon says it “respects its employees’ rights to choose to join or not join a labour union”.
The GMB estimates that out of the 1,300 workers at the warehouse, nearly 700 have joined the union, which meets the threshold for statutory recognition.
If successful, Amazon would have to negotiate with workers about their pay, holidays and sick pay.
However, the process of establishing a union has not been straightforward, according to Amanda Gearing, senior organiser of the GMB.
She said Amazon would try to prevent the GMB from forming by flooding the warehouse with more workers so the numbers are different.
Workers at the Coventry warehouse first protested about their pay last August.
They held the first ever Amazon strike in the UK in January. Since then, Amazon has increased its minimum starting wage to between £11 and £12 an hour, depending on location.
However, the union is calling for an hourly wage of £15 an hour.
The dispute has always been about more than money, according to Darren Westwood, who works at the warehouse and has been at the forefront of getting people to join the union. He said a union was needed because “it sometimes feels as if the management has no humanity”.