The first-ever vote to strike at a UK Amazon warehouse site fell short of the legal threshold for industrial action.
According to the GMB union, it was missed by only three votes, although 99% of the participants supported the action.
UK law states that at least 50% of voting members must do so for strike votes to be valid.
Amazon said it has increased salaries and offered a “comprehensive benefits package” to Coventry staff.
Some workers at the city’s Lyon’s Park site engaged in informal protests earlier this year after an “offensive” salary offer.
“Amazon workers are angry. This is just a stepping stone on their journey in the 15lb an hour battle,” said the union’s Amanda Gearing.
“GMB is now speaking to local activists to outline how we are taking this fight forward,” she said.
The union said it had long campaigned for official recognition of the online retail giant as a way to improve the company’s record on health and safety issues, a move backed by Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.
Speaking to delegates at the TUC Congress in Brighton, he said the online retailer should have a “unionised workforce”.
Amazon says its wage offer, which starts at a minimum of between £10.50 and £11.45 an hour, represents a “29 per cent increase in the minimum hourly wage paid to Amazon workers since 2018”.
“In addition, employees are offered comprehensive benefits worth thousands more, including private health insurance, life insurance, subsidized meals and an employee discount.”
Seasonal workers would also soon receive an additional one-off payment of up to £500 “as an extra thank you”, the company said.
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