Amazon’s decision to close its seven warehouses in Québec and shift operations to third-party providers is an attempt to stifle unionization efforts, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) alleges.
The closures, which will result in the loss of approximately 4,500 jobs, come as Amazon faced the possibility of an arbitrator imposing its first-ever collective agreement in North America at one of its unionized facilities in Laval. CSN president Caroline Senneville said the move is a clear effort to avoid collective bargaining.
“They’re not fooling anyone,” Senneville said. “The only reason for Amazon to have a different business model just for Québec is that there’s a union here and an arbitrator could have imposed a first collective agreement as early as the summer of 2025.”
In response, the CSN is calling for a boycott of Amazon, urging governments, municipalities, and public agencies to stop doing business with the company and cancel existing contracts, including those related to cloud services. The labour organization is also encouraging the public to cease shopping on Amazon’s online platform and to cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions.
“A company that flouts our laws shouldn’t be allowed to do business here, let alone receive public contracts,” Senneville said. “Now more than 4,500 people have lost their jobs. It’s time to take a stand against Amazon’s repeated offences and support our own businesses.”
The CSN is organizing a demonstration in Montreal on Feb. 15 to protest the company’s decision and show support for affected workers. It is also advising its 1,600 affiliated unions to push their employers to cut ties with Amazon if they have existing contracts.
Legal action planned
The union plans to launch legal action in the coming days, seeking to annul the layoffs, reinstate the affected Amazon employees, and reopen the closed warehouses. The CSN argues that Amazon’s outsourcing strategy is a means of bypassing Québec’s Labour Code.
“The closures announced by Amazon aren’t true closures in the legal sense, since Amazon plans to continue selling its products to Quebecers online,” Senneville said. “Amazon thinks it can just shift the work to other corporate entities and outsource some warehousing and delivery operations. What it calls its ‘new business model’ is just an attempt to circumvent its obligations under the Labour Code.”
Meanwhile, negotiations continue over a first collective agreement at the DXT4 warehouse in Laval, which was the first Amazon facility in Canada to unionize. The CSN filed a request for first contract arbitration with the Minister of Labour last week. Although the warehouse is slated for closure, the union argues that key issues, including retroactive pay and recall rights, must still be resolved.
The Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) has previously found Amazon guilty of anti-union interference at its YUL2 warehouse in Lachine and is currently reviewing a similar complaint related to the DXT4 facility, according to a press release issued by the union.
