Amazon strike: First formal walkout on British soil begins today
Darren Westwood knows how to stick up for himself.
As a kid, he was bullied in the playground and beaten up in his local town centre. Now he doesn’t take stick from anyone, no matter how big or strong they appear, even if they happen to be one of the biggest companies in the world.
Mr Westwood believes his employer, Amazon, is a bully.
Having slowly grown fed up with pay and working conditions at the company’s warehouse in Coventry – where workers are on their feet all day sorting through goods to send to other warehouses – he has been corralling colleagues to support a strike.
After some initial reluctance, he gradually won them over and almost 300 workers are poised to walk out today – marking the first formal strike on British soil for the online giant.
“I don’t get fazed by things. I spent my life growing up and I’m at that stage where I’m not intimidated or worried,” the 57-year-old said.
“During the pandemic, people were thanking us and we appreciated that but Amazon were still making money, while we feel like we’ve been left behind.”
“The money is there. I know people say that it’s the politics of envy but we’re not asking for his [Jeff Bezos’] yacht or his rocket. We just won’t be able to pay our way. And that’s all we’re asking.”
Unions have traditionally had a hard time penetrating Amazon but the mood among the company’s workforce shifted in August after it offered its workers what many considered to be a paltry pay rise. The online giant lifted the hourly wage by 50p to £10.50 an hour.
Upon hearing the news, workers staged an informal walkout. They were expecting more, especially as the company has enjoyed stellar profits in recent years and inflation is rising at its fastest pace in 40 years.
The GMB union seized the opportunity and helped arrange a strike, with workers voting in favour of formal action just before Christmas.
It’s not just about money, however. Amazon has long been criticised for employing tough productivity targets that require workers to sort through a set number of items per hour.
Failure to do so can result in an “adapt”, a type of warning. Staff are given up to 30-minute breaks a day, only one of which is paid.
“When you think you’ve got to queue up to clock out and then queue up to go through the metal detectors and security, and queue to get your food, that time does evaporate very, very quickly,” Mr Westwood said. “I’ve been one minute late back from a break before and have been given an adapt.”
The loss of up to 300 of its 1,400 workforce in Coventry is unlikely to cause Amazon any major operational problems but management will be keeping a close eye on developments. Across the globe, its workforce has started agitating. In the US, workers at a New York warehouse recently voted to start the company’s first-ever labour union.
The GMB union is calling on Amazon to pay its UK workers £15 an hour to bring their wages in line with their American counterparts, who earn $18 an hour. However, Mr Westwood accepted that it would probably take a lot less than that to settle the dispute.
Amazon warehouse in Coventry where workers are striking
‘£2 an hour extra would be acceptable’
“I’d be happy if they just increased it by £2. I think £2 an hour extra or £2.50 an hour extra would be acceptable. I think everyone would stop then and people would be happy,” he said.
The company told Sky News that it pays a competitive local wage that has risen by 29% since 2018.
A spokesperson added: “We appreciate the great work our teams do throughout the year and we’re proud to offer competitive pay which starts at a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 per hour, depending on location.
“Employees are also offered comprehensive benefits that are worth thousands more – including private medical insurance, life assurance, subsidised meals and an employee discount, to name a few.”
However, workers accuse it of cutting other benefits in the process. Crucially, the 5% pay rise it has given its staff amounts to a real-terms pay cut because inflation, which peaked at over 11% last year, has risen at more than double the pace.
Mr Westwood pointed out that the company has put the cost of its services up to reflect higher rates of inflation, while neglecting to fairly share the spoils with its workforce.
A similar story is playing out across the economy, especially in the public sector, where industrial relations are fracturing under the strain of rampant inflation. Nurses, ambulance drivers, railway workers, teachers and postal workers have all voted to down their tools and march out.
‘Some nights I can’t sleep’
Like some of Amazon’s employees, many of them were repeatedly reminded of their value during the pandemic, when they went out to work when others stayed at home.
“These are good people,” Mr Westwood said. “I know that some people think that we’re unskilled and this is a minimum wage for a ‘minimum job’. But you need us during the pandemic. You applauded us and painted rainbows in the street. We’re the same people.”
“It’s 10 hours a day, standing on your feet. I do 18,000 steps and it takes its toll on people. I’ve got an injury to my shoulder. Some days it’s just so painful. Some nights I can’t sleep, it just keeps me awake. And that’s from the repetitive strain of doing the same job over and over and over and over.”
While Mr Westwood is hopeful that both sides can thrash out a deal, he believes that the major gain will be to increase unionisation within the Amazon workforce to ensure workers continue to stick up for themselves.
He accepts that working for Amazon comes with benefits and many people enjoy their time there but believes the company has a long way to go.
“Colleagues are struggling to pay their bills,” he said. “But we work for one of the richest men in the world, at one of the richest companies in the world, in one of the richest countries in the world… it’s not fair.”
Rachel Reeves has said she is determined to “defy” forecasts that suggest she will face a multibillion-pound black hole in next month’s budget.
Writing in The Guardian, the chancellor argued the “foundations of Britain’s economy remain strong” – and rejected claims the country is in a permanent state of decline.
Reports have suggested the Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to downgrade its productivity growth forecast by about 0.3 percentage points.
Rachel Reeves. PA file pic
That means the Treasury will take in less tax than expected over the coming years – and this could leave a gap of up to £40bn in the country’s finances.
Ms Reeves wrote she would not “pre-empt” these forecasts, and her job “is not to relitigate the past or let past mistakes determine our future”.
“I am determined that we don’t simply accept the forecasts, but we defy them, as we already have this year. To do so means taking necessary choices today, including at the budget next month,” the chancellor added.
She also pointed to five interest rate cuts, three trade deals with major economies and wages outpacing inflation as evidence Labour has made progress since the election.
Speculation is growing that Ms Reeves may break a key manifesto pledge by raising income tax or national insurance during the budget on 26 November.
Read more from Sky News:
What tax rises and spending cuts could Reeves announce?
Start-ups warn the chancellor over budget tax bombshell
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Chancellor faces tough budget choices
Although her article didn’t address this, she admitted “our country and our economy continue to face challenges”.
Her opinion piece said: “The decisions I will take at the budget don’t come for free, and they are not easy – but they are the right, fair and necessary choices.”
Yesterday, Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates reported that Ms Reeves is unlikely to raise the basic rates of income tax or national insurance, to avoid breaking a promise to protect “working people” in the budget.
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Tax hikes possible, Reeves tells Sky News
Sky News has also obtained an internal definition of “working people” used by the Treasury, which relates to Britons who earn less than £45,000 a year.
This, in theory, means those on higher salaries could be the ones to face a squeeze in the budget – with the Treasury stating that it does not comment on tax measures.
Read more: The taxes Reeves could raise
In other developments, some top economists have warned Ms Reeves that increasing income tax or reducing public spending is her only option for balancing the books.
Experts from the Institute for Fiscal Studies have cautioned the chancellor against opting to hike alternative taxes instead, telling The Independent this would “cause unnecessary amounts of economic damage”.
Although such an approach would help the chancellor avoid breaking Labour’s manifesto pledge, it is feared a series of smaller changes would make the tax system “ever more complicated and less efficient”.
KitKats, Gaviscon, toothpaste, and even Freddo have all fallen victim to shrinkflation, consumer group Which? has found.
As families struggle with the cost of a trip to the supermarket, a survey of shoppers revealed how many products are getting smaller – while others are being downgraded with cheaper ingredients.
Among the examples are:
• Aquafresh complete care original toothpaste – from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado
• Gaviscon heartburn and indigestion liquid – from £14 for 600ml to £14 for 500ml at Sainsbury’s
• Sainsbury’s Scottish oats – from £1.25 for 1kg to £2.10 for 500g
• KitKat two-finger multipacks – from £3.60 for 21 bars to £5.50 for 18 bars at Ocado
• Quality Street tubs – from £6 for 600g to £7 for 550g at Morrisons
• Freddo multipacks – from £1.40 for five bars to £1.40 for four bars at Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco
Which? also received reports of popular treats missing key ingredients, as manufacturers seek to cut costs.
The amount of cocoa butter in white KitKats has fallen below 20%, meaning they can no longer actually be sold as white chocolate.
It comes after Penguin and Club bars lost their legal status as a chocolate biscuit, as they now contain more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa – as reported in the Sky News Money blog.
Which? retail editor Reena Sewraz called on supermarkets to be “more upfront” about price changes to help households “already under immense financial pressure” get better value.
While keeping track of the size and weight of products can be tricky, Which? has two top tips for detecting shrinkflation.
The first is to be wary of familiar products labelled as “new” – because the only thing that’s new may end up being the smaller size.
Meanwhile, the second is to pay attention to how much an item costs per 100g or 100ml, as this can be an easy way of finding out when prices change.
What have the companies said?
A spokeswoman for Mondelez International, which makes Cadbury products, said any change to product sizes are a “last resort”, but it’s facing “significantly higher input costs across our supply chain” – including for energy.
A Nestle spokesman said it was seeing “significant increases in the cost of coffee”, and some “adjustments” were occasionally needed “to maintain the same high quality and delicious taste that consumers know and love”.
“Retail pricing is always at the discretion of individual retailers,” they added.
A spokesman for the Food and Drink Federation also pointed to government policy, notably national insurance increases for employers and a new packaging tax.
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Is inflation reaching its peak?
Fresh food prices on the rise
The Which? report comes as latest figures showed fresh food costs 4.3% more than it did a year ago.
The increase in October, reported by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market researchers NIQ, was up on the 4.1% year-on-year rise in September.
Overall food inflation was down slightly, though, to 3.7% from last month’s 4.2%.
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There has also been a slowdown in overall shop price inflation, which the BRC said was down to “fierce competition among retailers” ahead of Black Friday sales.
The annual shopping extravaganza will this year arrive in the same week as the chancellor’s budget, which is set for Wednesday 26 November.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson called on Rachel Reeves to help “relieve some pressures” keeping prices high, with the national insurance rise in last year’s budget having “directly contributed to rising inflation”.
“Adding further taxes on retail businesses would inevitably keep inflation higher for longer,” Ms Dickinson warned.
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