SO NOW we know the workers at Amazon Coventry “fulfilment centre” have not achieved union recognition: 49.5 per cent voted for recognition — only 29 votes short.

The reaction has been a cross between exhilaration at an enormous sense of achievement, along with disappointment tinged by frustration about being so close. A reaction spread among workers, union officials and members of the Amazon Workers Supporters Group.

This dispute has not been strictly a company matter, it has engaged the wider community and the attention of the world.

The wider community became involved early on in the dispute when an Amazon Workers Support Group was formed. Coventry TUC has played a central role in the formation of the support group.

The group was initiated in November 2022 following a meeting at a social club close to the Amazon warehouse. At that meeting, GMB officials and leaders of the workers within the warehouse explained that they were fighting for better pay, improved working conditions and union recognition. They also outlined what they needed from a supporters’ group.

The supporters’ group has proved one aspect of working-class unity that has characterised this campaign for pay, conditions and recognition. The others have been, first, an almost symbiotic relationship between the GMB officials and the Amazon workers, second the courage of this working-class movement and third, the tireless and relentless efforts of the GMB officials involved in the struggle.

It was obvious from the meeting set up to form the supporters group that there was already a bond of trust and mutual support between the GMB officials and the workplace leaders. This seemed critical to success, as from the very start management had demonstrated a ferocity and hostility targeted at stopping any moves towards the creation of an organised labour force.

Managers at Amazon insisted and still do, that workers had always been given the choice of joining a union. But this is nothing more than an example of the forked tongue approach that typifies Amazon’s managerial relationship with workers.

Amazon workers knew the “nuclear option” was management’s opening gambit. Intimidation, menace and creating alarm were tactics reportedly applied without nuance or subtlety.

My heart went out to those brave souls who courageously first walked out at the stroke of midnight on January 25 2023. Passing uncomfortably through the supervisory and managerial staff sent to line the exit route.

I applauded and admired that relatively small group who walked up the footpath from the warehouse to be greeted with congratulations and salutes from their waiting supporters.

As I drove away in the early hours of January 26, I remember having a mix of respect and anxiety for those workers. They were taking on an anti-union behemoth already case-hardened in union busting. The support and commitment of the union officials was now crucial, while the support group also needed to play its part.

The saying is “From small acorns might oak trees grow” and no more accurately could that phrase be applied than to the increased number of workers that went on swelling the picket lines as strike days after strike days were announced. Over 33 days in all.

The queues at the union’s gazebo waiting to sign up to join the union were spectacular. The breadth of nationalities was a wonder in itself. As a member of the support group I recognised I was an “extra” in this drama.

I knew all the principal roles were being filled by those who were battling this global multinational every moment and I had no illusions of where members of the supporters’ group stood in the order of things.

I didn’t want to be regarded as an intruder, but I was keen to hear their stories and was grateful for conversations with workers drawn from many countries including Nepal, Eritrea, Romania, south India and Guinea Basso.

I watched as the pickets chatted courteously and cheerily with compatriots in their slowing cars. On many occasions, I saw workers not only slow their cars down, but following the conversation with the pickets, they found a parking space and joined the strikers.

As the number of strike days increased, the number of pickets was growing exponentially. The teams of police officers sent to the lines gradually resigned themselves to a low-visibility approach. The security guards employed by Amazon seemed bewildered and out of their depth.

It seems a long time since these workers were calling “What do we want — £15 — when do we want it — now.” Management must be reflecting on the day in summer 2022 when they raised expectations among the workforce telling them they would be offering a pay rise in recognition of the worker’s efforts.

Bringing the workers together they announced with broad smiles, that the workers were getting an increase of 50p an hour. This was the final straw, the moment when the dam burst.

The courage of the workers is there for all to see, throughout this dispute and especially while the ballot has been conducted, Amazon’s management has never let up on efforts to create an environment of unease and fear. They have actively spread rumours about the impact of union recognition including the closure of the warehouse, loss of bonuses and no more overtime.

It has been estimated that Amazon has spent in excess of an additional £300,000 a week in strike-busting efforts such as recruiting temporary workers, maybe as many as 1,300, who it believed were less likely to vote for union recognition, importing managers from across the country — and as far as the US — and funding the production, in various forms, of never-ending anti-union propaganda.

The ballot results are now known. In what has to be among the most hostile ant-union environments 49.5 per cent voted for recognition and fell short by only 29 votes of recognition.

I hold the GMB officials in massive regard. They held countless briefings inside the warehouse about union recognition with management sending a “placement” to every union recognition briefing. These management stooges were used to stir up arguments against union recognition.

Managers were taking workers off their jobs to attend small group meetings to reinforce the threats from union recognition. Even bringing managers of various nationalities from sites in other parts of the country to target ethnic groups. Managers made promises about such things as safety equipment, for which in some cases, workers have already waited four years.

Make no mistake this has been a battle with high stakes for both Amazon as well as the workers. These groundbreaking workers and the trade union officials who have tirelessly supported them richly deserved a Yes vote. An organisation with limited resources took on a global giant whose resources were limitless for this fight.

The achievements of these Amazon workers should reverberate well beyond this workplace. It demonstrates union membership can be built in the most hostile of situations.

It provides an example of fearlessness to Amazon employees around the globe the reinforces the message that workers acting together are unstoppable. Importantly, it provides the trade union movement with a case study in building trade union membership from nothing to a force to reckon with.

I have already said that I cannot praise the GMB officials enough. They have built a trust and a close network with the workforce at Coventry’s fulfilment centre. They have spent hours, days, and weeks on the gate early in the morning, in the evening and late at night. If anything the trust and mutual support I witnessed at that meeting in the local social club in November 2022 has been strengthened.

The workers’ confidence has grown, whatever this disgraceful multibillion-dollar company has thrown at this group of workers, it has not broken their spirit nor busted the union’s intent.

The support group has been consistent in its activities, attending every strike day picket, raising funds, leafleting and providing encouragement.

A Yes vote would have had a seismic impact, but these workers have not lost, they have achieved more than a moral victory, they have created acute anxiety in an overbearing, confrontational and aggressive multibillion-dollar company. Let’s hope the new Labour government shows its support for the workers and procures no more from Amazon until they offer union recognition.

Phil Street is secretary of Coventry TUC.