AMAZON has been dealt an “historic blow” as a government body ruled that GMB’s union recognition application at its Coventry warehouse must go to a legally binding workers’ vote.

The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruling brings GMB one step closer to Europe’s first recognised union at Amazon and comes after more than a year of industrial action and 30 strike days.

The CAC will now appoint an independent organisation to arrange a legally binding vote of workers, with a ballot timetable likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

GMB senior organiser Amanda Gearing said: “From day one of GMB’s fight for union rights at Amazon it has been a modern-day David and Goliath battle. 

“One year on this is a truly historic moment as workers stand up against the company’s relentless anti-union propaganda.”

She said Amazon workers have refused poverty pay and unsafe working conditions, demanding “dignity at work and a union to represent them.”

An Amazon spokesman said: “Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have.”