Sutton Coldfield Amazon workers take part in strike over pay

About 60 GMB members joined the picket line at the Amazon warehouse in Sutton Coldfield on Thursday

Workers at a recently opened Amazon warehouse have gone on strike in a dispute over pay.

About 60 GMB members joined the picket line at the Sutton Coldfield site at 06:30 GMT on Thursday.

The action comes on the anniversary of the first official strike at an Amazon UK warehouse, said the trade union.

The online retailer said it regularly reviewed its pay to ensure it offered competitive wages and benefits.

Industrial action would cause "zero disruption" to customers, it added.

Further pickets would take place later in the day when shifts change, a GMB Midlands spokesperson said.

Workers in Coventry were the first of Amazon's staff in the UK to back industrial action.

The £500m fulfilment centre in Minworth, Sutton Coldfield, opened in in late 2023 and employs about 2,000 people.

Just 19 GMB members at the site had voted in favour of industrial action, said the online retailer.

The union had said it expected more than 100 workers to take part in the walkout throughout Thursday.

Amanda Gearing from the GMB said Amazon had "refused" to increase pay when the cost of living crisis began.

Subsequent pay increases had been "too little, too late," and had only happened as a result of union action, she added.

The GMB was "fighting" for £15 per hour, to help with the cost of living and reflect the physical and repetitive nature of the job, Ms Gearing said.

GMB senior organiser Amanda Gearing said pay rises for Amazon staff had been too little, too late

Amazon said that by April, minimum starting pay would have increased to £12.30 and £13 per hour depending on location.

That equated to a 20% increase over two years and 50% since 2018, the retailer stated.

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