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The Conversation
Tom Vickers, Associate Professor in Sociology and Convenor of the Work Futures Research Group, Nottingham Trent University

I spent months with Amazon workers in Coventry before they narrowly voted against unionising. This is what I learned

The vote at Amazon's Coventry site fell by the narrowest of margins. Zeynep Demir Aslim/Shutterstock

Amazon workers in Coventry, England, have narrowly voted against a proposal that would have forced the retail giant to grant the GMB Union formal recognition. With a high participation rate of 86% of eligible voters, 50.5% voted against forcing recognition, a margin of just 28 votes.

The ballot follows an extraordinary process of unionisation among the workforce at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, with GMB membership growing from around 60 members in July 2022 to more than 1,400. Amazon has devoted significant resources to opposing unionisation – including some tactics that are subject to a legal challenge.

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