A British trade union filed a legal complaint against Amazon after the labor group narrowly lost a bid for recognition at a London warehouse this week.
In the complaint, filed Wednesday, GMB accuses Amazon of illegally questioning workers on their opinion on unionization and displaying QR codes that canceled union membership once scanned.
According to GMB, if just 15 votes had gone in the union’s favor, it would have won the election. The union claims that at least 70 memberships were wiped out via the QR codes.
The union filed its complaint with the U.K.’s Central Arbitration Committee, which appointed an independent organization to oversee the vote. If the CAC finds merit in GMB’s complaint, it will order a new election.
Amazon denied any wrongdoing, saying the company was confident a fair ballot process had occurred.
The complaint follows through on promises made by GMB leadership this week to officially contest the vote results. The labor group lost its bid for official recognition Wednesday, with 50.5% of the 2,600 voters rejecting union recognition at Amazon’s London warehouse. If the union had won, it would have been the first Amazon union outside the U.S.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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