Labour Leader Jeremy Starmer Promises to Use Public Procurement to Create 'Unionised Jobs' in the UK

GMB member Garfield Hylton asked Starmer what Labour would do to stop public money going to companies like Amazon that refuse to recognise the union.

Starmer replied that an incoming Labour government would expect to see unionised jobs and support unionised industries as part of the terms and conditions of public procurement.

He emphasised his pro-union credentials and said the party’s green investment pledge would create good, union jobs in the UK.

Starmer also mentioned President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act as an example of how Labour’s economic policies would benefit working people.

The GMB has been urging Labour to attach pro-worker conditions to new government contracts, and recent research shows the government spent £222m with Amazon in 2022, most of it with Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing subsidiary.

Amazon has declined a formal request for union recognition from the GMB at its Coventry warehouse, known as BHX4, where staff have been involved in the first UK strike action against the firm since January, demanding pay of £15 an hour.

Jeremy Starmer, leader of the UK Labour Party, addressed a rift with the GMB union over energy policy and outlined his party's pro-worker policies at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton.

These policies included a new "fair pay agreement" in social care, expanded parental leave, an end to fire-and-rehire, and full employment rights on day one of a new job.

Starmer also sought to assuage concerns over the North Sea energy industry and promised to create new, clean energy jobs.