An Amazon warehouse is seen after the company announced that it is exiting its operations in the Canadian province of Quebec, leading to the loss of about 1,700 full-time jobs, in the Lachine neighbourhood of Montreal.Peter McCabe/Reuters
The union representing Amazon workers at a warehouse in Laval, Que., was gaining traction with workers at other Amazon AMZN-Q warehouses in the province in the months leading up to an abrupt decision by the tech behemoth to shut down all its operations in Quebec.
Three workers at a warehouse in Saint-Hubert, Que., said that they and many of their colleagues were ready to sign union cards in favour of joining the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN). A spokesperson from the CSN told The Globe and Mail that they were trying to unionize workers at five out of the seven Amazon facilities in Quebec, and had made significant inroads in the latter half of 2024.
The workers – whom The Globe is not naming to avoid jeopardizing their future employment – were inspired by their peers at the Amazon warehouse in Laval, which had roughly 250 employees and became unionized in May, 2024.
But their plans were halted on Wednesday, when Amazon announced that it was closing all seven warehouses in Quebec and laying off 1,700 permanent and 250 temporary employees while moving back to a third-party delivery system. The online shopping giant said the decision was made for business reasons, although labour advocates say it’s part of a broader push by Amazon to stamp out unionization in its facilities.
The decision has drawn condemnation from Ottawa. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne called for a review into the federal government’s business relationship with Amazon in a letter that was addressed to the company’s chief executive officer, Andy Jassy, and posted to X on Thursday.
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“It is not too late to reconsider your decision,” Mr. Champagne said in the letter. A spokesperson for Amazon told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that the company was willing to meet with Canadian policy makers over its decision to shutter operations in Quebec.
The workers who spoke with The Globe said that management was aware of pro-union activity in its warehouse and, on occasion, would bring in employees from the U.S. to remind workers about the disadvantages of unionizing.
Last August, Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal handed out a $30,000 fine to Amazon for blocking a unionization campaign by distributing anti-union messages and meeting with employees of a warehouse in Lachine, Que.
CSN, the union in Quebec, believes that Amazon’s decision to shut down in Quebec was entirely related to its unionization push.
“They knew we were working to unionize in Lachine because they ultimately got fined for interfering in union affairs. But they cannot admit that they shut down because of the union – that is illegal and we would fight them on it,” said Caroline Senneville, president of the CSN.
In a statement, Amazon said employees had a choice of whether or not to join a union and both decisions had to be equally protected.
Quebec’s Labour Code bars employers from eliminating workers’ employment because of unionization or engaging in union-related activities. If the union decides to go ahead with a legal challenge of Amazon’s decision to shut down its operations in Quebec, it has precedent in its favour: a 2014 Supreme Court decision against Walmart Canada ruled that the retailer had violated Quebec’s labour code in the early 2000s by closing a unionized store in Jonquiere, Que., without a valid reason. Walmart had said the store was unprofitable.
Amazon appeared to be having a difficult time dealing with the aftermath of the Laval facility voting to unionize. In May, the company lost a challenge it had mounted to the labour tribunal, at which it argued that the way in which unionization takes place in Quebec – via card certification instead of a vote – was invalid. That led to the CSN being able to formally represent the 250 Laval workers and start negotiating a first collective agreement with Amazon.
But the negotiations proved tough, according to Ms. Senneville. “We could not agree on anything. Not even definitions, let alone wages,” she said.
The CSN was asking for workers to be paid $26 an hour, approximately 30 per cent more than their current wage. Ms. Senneville said Amazon countered with a zero-per-cent increase in wages.
After six months of back and forth, Ms. Senneville said negotiations were at a “dead end.” Last week, the union had made a decision to notify the province’s Labour Minister, who has the right to demand an arbitrator get involved and force a collective agreement.
“Quebec labour law permits access to first collective agreement arbitration, a process in which an arbitrator is empowered to impose a collective agreement,” explained David Doorey, a professor of labour law at York University. “Having failed in all its other efforts to thwart the union organizing campaign, Amazon has now triggered the nuclear anti-union employer option to avoid that first agreement being imposed,” he said, referring to the tech giant’s decision to shut down.
Amazon often reminds workers that joining a union is their own choice but actively attempts to highlight to workers the perils of belonging to one. Pictures obtained by The Globe from the Lachine warehouse show posters put up by Amazon in bathrooms stating that unions “cannot change workplaces” and that they “charge dues.”
Marc Wulfraat, a supply chain and logistics expert based in Montreal, said Amazon will be able to easily pivot to using third-party sorting and delivery companies in Quebec or base more of its warehouse business in Ontario.
Mr. Wulfraat suggested that Amazon presumably made the calculation that union activity will continue spreading across the country, and shutting down would send a harsh message to unions and workers. “They basically said, ‘Look, we have alternatives and if you want to play hardball with us, we can put all our labour at arm’s-length and still serve the market.’”