Au revoir! A bientot! Bon voyage!
That’s the message retailing giant Amazon is sent to 1,950 Quebec employees — by email —after it announced Tuesday it is shutting seven of its massive warehouses in La Belle province and ceasing all operations amid strained labour relations with its newly certified union.
That’s because Quebec is home to Amazon’s only unionized workforce in Canada. About 200 employees in Laval took the company to the province’s labour relations board complaining of low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate health and safety measures.
At recent demonstrations, workers’ representatives demanded a 30% pay increase to $26 per hour for its minimum wage earners.
In May of last year Amazon opposed the workers’ accreditation with the Confederation of National Trade Unions but its appeal was rejected by Quebec’s labour tribunal in October.
But company spokespeople said the decision to revert to a third-party delivery model was not in response to the unionization drive — although it was in the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.
Amazon will instead revert to the business model it used in Quebec in 2020, when it relied exclusively on third-party companies and contractors for package delivery.
"Following a recent review of our Quebec operations we found that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to the one we had until 2020, will enable us to offer the same excellent service and deliver even greater savings to our customers in the long term," a spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement to CBC.uebe
“One, the Canadiens won again. Two, I didn't drink my orange juice this morning,”
Quebec Premier François Legault
There was no word on when Amazon would close the facilities but the spokesperson said it would start within the next two months.
Employees complained they were blindsided by the move, even though they will reportedly receive more than three months severance.
“This decision makes no sense,” Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) president Caroline Senneville said in a news release on Wedneday.
Senneville complained the union was only made aware of the warehouse closures via email.
“This is a slap in the face for all workers in Quebec," she said. “Since the beginning of our campaign three years ago, Amazon has done everything to prevent the unionization of its employees: fear campaign, anti-union messages, challenge to the Labor Code, disguised dismissals... This is totally unacceptable."
On Twitter (“X”), Quebec Premier François Legault was asked about the closures by a reporter and instead commented about the Montreal Canadiens’ 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
As per Google translate: “One, the Canadiens won again. Two, I didn't drink my orange juice this morning,” he said while walking into a caucus meeting.
Amazon employs more than 46,000 people across Canada.
