Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.50.3
Object Name
Costume
Title
Decepticon
Place
Coventry, UK
People
GMB Union, Amazon
Events
Amazon unionisation dispute (2023-2024)
Description
A silver robot costume made of foil and cardboard.
This costume was worn during the dispute between employees at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry in 2023-2024 over their right to unionise. The robot features a frowning version of Amazon's smile logo, and the donors named it 'Decepticon'. A theme of their protest was that Amazon was treating workers like robots rather than humans. The worker who wore the costume told us:
"The robot costume symbolises the feelings of the workers where they felt like they were being treated like robots this lead to the slogan of the campaign becoming ââwe are not robotsââ. This started over 12 years ago and our robots have travelled with us on the journey attending strikes and demonstrations across the midland. Our robot also got global recognition when our brothers and sisters from the Spanish union CCOO joined us at a Black Friday demo in Rugley and insisted on wearing the costume."
Amazon had refused to voluntarily recognise their employees as part of a union. After the union appealed to the arbitration service, the arbitrators confirmed that workers had the legal right to vote on whether or not to unionise. The ballot, taken in July 2024, failed by 15 votes, with 49.5% of the 3000 workers were in favour and 50.5% rejecting unionisation. GMB reported that Amazon had resorted to intimidation tactics to pressure workers into not unionising, including requiring them to attend "six hours of anti-union seminars". Amazon argues that it is better for them to interact directly with their workers than to negotiate through a union, however collective bargaining and dispute support offered by unions often results in better working conditions for employees. Many suspect this is the true motivation behind Amazon's refusal to recognise unions in their warehouses. GMB have vowed to continue supporting Amazon workers in their attempts to unionise, despite this setback.
**ON DISPLAY**
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