Amazon warehouse workers hold first UK strike, adding to labour turmoil

Amazon warehouse workers went on strike for the first time in Britain on Wednesday because of a dispute over pay and working conditions, adding to a wave of industrial labour action across the country fuelled by the soaring cost of living.

Union members voted to walk off the job at the e-commerce giant's fulfillment center in Coventry, a city about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of London near Birmingham.

Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser with the GMB union, said Amazon staff who worked through tough conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic are just trying to get decent pay."

Another big issue is performance targets set by an algorithm that piles extra pressure on workers, she said.

The union is fighting for a bigger pay raise than the company's offer, which it says amounts to an extra 50 pence (61 cents) an hour.

Amazon, which operates 28 fulfillment centers in the United Kingdom, said 2,000 workers are employed at the Coventry facility. The union says 98 per cent of those