An Amazon warehouse and distribution centre in an industrial park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.
Graham Hughes | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon is set to face legal action from a Canadian union after the company’s decision to wind down warehouse operations in Quebec.
The Federation of National Trade Unions, known as CSN, said Tuesday it plans to petition a court to order Amazon to reopen seven warehouses and restore the 1,700 jobs lost as a result of the closures.
Amazon announced in late January it would phase out seven sites in Quebec “following a recent review” of its operations in the province, which is the only location in Canada with unionized Amazon employees. The company said it would return to a third-party delivery model, enlisting subcontractors to handle deliveries.
The CSN estimated that roughly 4,500 jobs were cut by Amazon and its subcontractors as a result of the closures.
“Amazon thinks it can just shift the work to other corporate entities and outsource some warehousing and delivery operations,” CSN President Caroline Senneville said in a statement. “What it calls the ‘new business model’ is just an attempt to circumvent its obligations under the Labour Code. The court should recognize that this scheme violates the law and it can then order the reinstatement of Amazon’s workers.”
Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said reverting to a third-party delivery model, which it used in Quebec before 2020, will allow the company to “provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run.”
“In making this decision, we’ve complied and will continue to comply with all the applicable federal and provincial laws,” Agrait said in a statement.
The CSN represents roughly 240 Amazon workers at a warehouse near the Montreal suburb of Laval. Workers at the site unionized last May, becoming the first Amazon warehouse in Canada to do so.
Following the closures, Canada’s industry minister, Francoise-Philippe Champagne, wrote to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expressing his “disappointment” over the decision, saying it “raises questions about your commitment to Canada and your Canadian partners.”
Champagne said the government would consider conducting a review of its current deals with Amazon.
Amazon said the vice president of its Canada business spoke with Champagne after the company announced the closures.
The company also faces growing labor pressure in the U.S. Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina are slated to vote next week on whether to join a union, while Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted Jan. 27 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Amazon employees at a facility in Staten Island, New York, in 2022 formed the company’s first union at a U.S. warehouse, though they have yet to secure a contract. The group voted to affiliate with the Teamsters in June.
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