Mila Hughes, Coventry Socialist Party
Amazon strikers were back again, strong as ever with another three-day stint! With the added strength of another site also successful in their strike ballot – a ‘Valentine’s Day present for Bezos’. In spite of the cold, hundreds were on the Coventry picket line from 6am.
Many of the temporary workers had told GMB union reps that if they were made permanent, they would join. After being made permanent on Wednesday, queues formed on the Thursday picket line, as the new permanent staff made good on their promises.
One worker told me how he saw working class strength: “One man can break one stick, but if you put ten sticks together, ten men cannot break them”.
Labour
One local Labour councillor made a passing five-minute visit on the first day of strike action to take photos, but they’re nowhere to be seen now.
Union reps and officials told us that police and private security have been more threatening, and had grabbed and shoved them.
One Socialist Party member saw a striker put a single foot in the road – to reach the window of a car that stopped willingly – and an officer almost ran up to shout his lungs out at her, bleating about safety, when ten minutes later he directed cars onto the wrong side of the road to cross the picket! She shrugged it off and started leafleting further along.
A union official was eagerly shouting down a megaphone “No work today” and was handing out leaflets – this was met with two police officers buzzing around her for the entire morning picket.
In efforts to strike-break, Amazon even offered workers vouchers to abandon the union! Bosses even offered a chicken and chips meal voucher worth a £2.50 to cross the picket line. At 8am the same day, rally strikers joked about it over and over, chanting: “No chicken and chips!”
