Unite launches new whistle-blowing hotline for Amazon workers

- March 31, 2021

The union has also launched a major advertising campaign to promote the hotline for Amazon workers in the UK and Ireland.

Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest trade union, has today (31 March) launched a major newspaper and online advertising campaign to promote it’s Action on Amazon campaign.

The union has set up a confidential whistle-blowing hotline for Amazon workers to expose poor treatment of staff by the ecommerce giant free from reprisals. Amazon workers can report poor working conditions by calling 08000 14 14 61 in the UK or 1800 851 268 for those working for Amazon in the Republic of Ireland.

Amazon workers can also head to Unite’s Action on Amazon website for more information and to sign up to the email action list: https://actiononamazon.org/

The ‘Action on Amazon’ campaign alliance is demanding a ‘new deal’ for Amazon workers, including a union for workers and a greater share of the firm’s enormous profits.

This week will see launch events take place across the UK and Ireland, in London, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and Dublin.

The union says it wants to highlight the plight of Amazon workers, who have been essential during the Covid-19 pandemic amid a backdrop of reports concerning poor working conditions. Amazon increased its permanent workforce by a third (10,000) in 2020 in addition to taking on 20,000 more seasonal staff. During that time the company almost doubled its profit, making Jeff Bezos the world’s richest man.

Unite said that despite this, Amazon prevents any attempt by workers to gain a collective voice of their own via trade union representation and has failed to join either the Ethical Trading Initiative or the UN Global Compact – both bodies that recognise the rights of workers to a collective voice and which are signed up to by most of the biggest names on the high street.

Unite is now calling on Amazon to sign up to a “new deal” for workers, including making commitments that recognise their workers’ rights to unionise.

Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said: “Unite has launched a major ad campaign to alert Amazon workers about a confidential hotline to blow the whistle on poor treatment and working practices.

“Amazon attacks all attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own. This is why Unite is launching ‘Action on Amazon’ to give Amazon workers a voice, so they don’t have to rely on whistle-blowing or calling confidential hotlines,” she added.

“Jeff Bezos has become the world’s richest man off the backs of workers who have played a crucial part in so many people’s lives during the pandemic. It is prime time Amazon gave workers the right to be in a union and to do so without interference, bullying and intimidation.”

As part of the Action on Amazon campaign, Unite has posted ads on Facebook as well as across 24 local newspapers including the Manchester Evening News, Bristol Post, Leicester Mercury, Nottingham Post, Liverpool Echo and South Wales Evening Post.

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