"Migrant cleaners win union recognition in defiance of Amazon,"

Migrant cleaners for the DBR1 Amazon warehouse in Dartford – who are outsourced to Phosters (FM) Limited, a Worcestershire-based facilities management company –  will be the first workers on an Amazon site to win union recognition in the UK. 

This historic decision came after the workers, who joined eight other workplaces, began balloting for strike action and forced their employer under threat of a strike ballot to agree to negotiate a voluntary recognition deal with their union, United Voices of the World (UVW). These Amazon cleaners join UVW’s co-ordinated and simultaneous balloting of cleaners, carers and concierge workers in nine workplaces in and around London.

While recognition talks signal progress in the dispute, the Amazon cleaners also demand a pay rise to an hourly wage of no less than £11.95, and are resolute in their plans to go ahead with strike action if their demands are not met. Currently the cleaners receive only the national minimum wage which is lower than warehouse operatives...