GMB union members at the BHX4 Amazon warehouse in Coventry are striking for three days this week, from 13-15 February.
This follows the recent picket line by Amazon workers in Birmingham, and numerous other walkouts at the Coventry distribution centre, which has now seen 31 strike days since January last year.
In that time, union membership on the site has grown from 300 to 1,200.
One worker we spoke to, who had just joined GMB, said their main reason for doing so was to have a union stand up for them. Others cited the intensive workload, common across Amazon warehouses. As one told us bluntly: “They treat us like shit.”
Amazon’s strike-breaking measures continue as well, as they offer a free hot meal to anyone who works on a strike day.
These free meals, however, turned out to just be chicken and chips worth £2.50 – clearly not enough to stop the dozens queueing up to join the union.
These workers are ready to bring the fight to Amazon. They are clear that the dispute goes well beyond pay, and well beyond Coventry. “We should be doing this all across the country.”
Matt Spurrell, Coventry Communists
Hitachi Rail strike stays strong
Bosses at Hitachi Rail, who maintain the rolling stock and signalling for LNER, made more than £100m in profit last year. But they have offered their workers only a 6% pay rise.
Workers organised in the RMT have answered this measly offer with a resounding ‘No’. They first went on strike from 27 January to 1 February, and have since gone back out for a further (discontinuous) eight days from 10 February.
The workers we spoke to at the Hitachi Craigentinny maintenance depot in Edinburgh were in good spirits.
Delivery trucks and taxis were boldly asked to turn around and not cross the picket. Most responded positively.
One striker expressed to The Communist his frustration at the isolation of workers in the workplace, due to the increasing privatisation and fragmentation of the rail industry.
Decades of privatisation, austerity, and job cuts have made Britain’s railways the worst in Europe. But railway workers are not taking these attacks this lying down.
Elsewhere, more strikes have been announced for RMT’s London Overground workers and for ASLEF train drivers, also over below-inflation pay offers.
These struggles should be connected. A united blow must be directed at railway bosses and their profit system.
Sara Al Disi, Edinburgh Communists
Junior doctors struggle on
Doctors have been sent out a third strike ballot. The fact we have pushed our offer from 3.5% to 12% shows that militancy pays.
That said, we are now onto our fifth round of strikes. And instead of escalating action, unfortunately the BMA has instead included an option to vote for action short of strike.
This is basically accepting the Tories’ anti-worker Minimum Service Levels Act. This legislation is a threat to all workers in frontline sectors. We must fight back!
We need to link our fights with other workers in pay disputes. In this way, we can fight properly – both for full pay restoration, and in defence of our right to strike.
If you are a junior doctor reading this letter and agree, join us in building the RCP, so we can get these ideas out there!
Anonymous junior doctor
Workplace day of action for Palestine: Escalation needed!
7 February saw a ‘workplace day of action’, organised by Stop the War, against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Workers and students at a number of workplaces, schools and universities walked out at various times to protest. Communists across Britain went along to, or organised, a number of these.
This action is a step in the right direction. But to have any real impact, the unions must escalate further. There is a need for greater coordination – across the movement and across workplaces. Actual strike action must be built for.
Above all, the aim of the movement must be focused on bringing down British imperialism, which is entirely complicit in the horrors being meted out on the Palestinian and Yemeni people.
Liverpool – A rally was held at lunchtime outside the university, with around 60 present. A comrade gave a speech, raising the issue of the repression the Palestine movement and our own comrades have faced, simply for raising the slogan of ‘intifada’.
Loughborough – I raised a motion in my UCU college branch in support of Wednesday‘s ‘day of action’, which failed to pass. Undeterred, I organised a rally outside Loughborough University across the road, which got good support from the community, students, and staff.
Sheffield – Around 150 students and workers rallied at the University of Sheffield. Speeches called out the complicity of British capitalism in the massacre taking place in Gaza, as well as our university’s contracts with arms companies.
A comrade gave a speech calling for revolution as the only solution to imperialist oppression around the world.
The march was planned by a student-staff coalition, leading into teach-outs and a sit-in inside the students’ union.
Unfortunately, the local UCU branch did not advertise the demo, though some staff members attended. There is however clear anger across campus at what’s happening in Palestine and Yemen.
Oxford – I attended the Stop the War vigil in Radcliffe Square. I spoke to an NUJ picket next to it. We discussed the repression of stories related to Palestine, and the need for a workers’ press.
The UCU vigil was sombre. A particularly poignant speech told of 100 family members killed by the IDF. A banner showed the names of dozens of academics killed.
I spoke with attendees on the threats to free speech, and the need for organisation.
