Amazon closures a ‘slap in the face’ to Quebec workers, union says
Amazon.com Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will close all its Quebec warehouses and lay off about 1,700 full-time employees — a move the union representing workers at the e-commerce behemoth’s only unionized Canadian facility called a “slap in the face for all workers in Quebec.”
“Following a recent review of our Quebec operations, we’ve seen that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run,” Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said in a statement via email. “This decision wasn’t made lightly, and we’re offering impacted employees a package that includes up to 14 weeks’ pay after facilities close and transitional benefits, like job placement resources.”
Amazon opened its first Quebec warehouse in 2020, expanding to a total of seven facilities in the province: one fulfillment centre, two sorting centres, three delivery centres and one AMXL fulfilment centre that handles large and heavy items.
The closures will also affect about 250 temporary seasonal employees whose contracts already specified end dates. Temporary seasonal employees will be compensated until the last day of their contract, Amazon said.
Amazon employs more than 46,000 full-time and part-time workers across Canada in its warehouses, technology hubs and corporate offices, according to its website.
The DXT4 warehouse in Laval is the only unionized Amazon facility in Canada and received accreditation in May after two years of organizing with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN). Since July, the union had been working to negotiate a collective agreement.
CSN said in a
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