AMAZON could be on the brink of being forced to recognise a trade union for the first time in Britain after GMB made a formal bid to government body the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC).

The committee is responsible for regulating collective bargaining between workers and employers and can force firms to recognise a trade union if more than 50 per cent of the workforce are members.

After over a year of industrial action, union membership at the company’s Coventry site has grown significantly.

But GMB has warned decision-makers of Amazon’s track record of using union-busting dirty tricks to sidestep recognition.

Union recognition would mean Amazon would be forced to sit down with GMB on matters relating to pay, worker safety, terms and conditions.

GMB senior organiser Amanda Gearing said: “It’s been legal gymnastics from Amazon in their attempt to smash drives for union recognition.

“Union recognition really matters, and it’s the clear ambition of workers at Amazon Coventry. 

“It’s only right that an employer with thousands of members of a single trade union in a workplace be asked to sit down and talk to that union.”