Organizing Amazon: Coventry book launch and public discussion

Venue: Coventry Central Hall, Warwick Lane, Coventry, CV1 2HA.

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Between August 2022 and July 2024, GMB Union membership at Amazon’s BHX4 Coventry warehouse skyrocketed, with 37 days of strike action resulting in a 28.5% pay rise. Yet despite this, the union narrowly lost a ballot that would have forced Amazon to grant formal recognition.

Based on ethnographic research and reflective essays from worker-leaders and organizers, this book offers a rich case study of the factors contributing to the union’s successes and setbacks. It provides a practical organizing model applicable beyond Amazon, offering strategies to engage the workforce, sustain support and develop leadership.

An essential toolkit for those navigating the complexities of evolving labour practices, with particular relevance for precarious workers and workplaces where access is limited.

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The event will include a presentation by the authors, an opportunity to buy discounted copies of the book, and time for questions and discussion about the ongoing workers struggle at Amazon.

Hosted by Coventry Amazon Workers Support Group, GMB Union, TUC, Nottingham Trent University and Notts Trades Council.

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Authors:

Tom Vickers is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the GMB-NTU Work Futures Research Observatory at Nottingham Trent University. He has been engaged with movements resisting capitalist exploitation and oppression for more than two decades.

With essay contributions from Garfield Hylton, Louveza Iqbal, Ceferina Floresca Javier and Paramanathan Pradeep (GMB worker-leaders at Amazon BHX4), and Rachel Fagan, Amanda Gearing, Stuart Richards, Tom Rigby and Ferdousara Uddin (officers in the GMB Midlands region).

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Endorsements for the book:

"A comprehensive, wide-ranging and timely study of Amazon workers' ongoing struggle for a collective union voice. A thought-provoking assessment of the power of workers standing together against the unacceptable face of capitalism" Paul Nowak, TUC General Secretary

"It’s great to see a book that focuses on a union’s strategy and tactics to challenge the might of Amazon’s labour exploitation. The voice of workers is loud and clear. All trade union organizers should read this book to understand how to collectivise a diverse workforce with a virulently anti-union employer." Jane Holgate, University of Leeds

"Organizing Amazon represents the pinnacle challenge facing the global labor movement, and among the sites of struggle, Coventry, England, stands out as a premier example of how workers can build and sustain a union in the face of Amazon's relentless union-busting. The book relays vital stories - told from the Coventry shop floor with passion and detail. Anyone attempting a serious organizing campaign at Amazon needs to study and apply the rich lessons it offers." Jonathan Rosenblum, Organizer and author of Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement

"A powerful reminder that digital capital is not invincible, as told by the workers rising against it." Alessandro Delfanti, University of Toronto and author of The Warehouse: Workers and Robots at Amazon