Mei W.
Last Wednesday (01/22), Amazon announced it will close all 7 warehouses in Quebec over the next two months, which will result in the layoff of nearly 2,000 workers after almost 300 workers at a warehouse in Laval, Quebec recently unionized.
The closures occurred amid planned negotiations in January for a first contract between the company and unionized workers in Laval. Workers at the warehouse unionized last May under the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the second largest trade union organization in Canada representing over 300,000 workers, becoming the first unionized Amazon workers in the country. Last October, Amazon failed in its attempt to challenge the union formation at a labor tribunal.
Under Quebec law, companies that delay negotiations with newly-unionized workers risk getting contracts imposed by binding arbitration. To avoid this, some companies have closed down operations in Quebec when workers unionize. In 2005, after Walmart workers in Jonquiere, Quebec unionized, the company closed the store citing “profitability” reasons—this was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court almost a decade later. While Amazon has delayed negotiations with unionized workers in Staten Island—the first US Amazon warehouse to unionize—for almost 3 years, Quebec law would force the e-commerce monopoly to negotiate their first contract in the world with unionized workers in Laval. Last month, dozens of unionized Laval workers rallied in support of the negotiations, demanding a contract that addresses dangerous working conditions and low wages at the warehouse.
In the US, Amazon has utilized third-party subcontractors to excuse its refusal to recognize workers who have voted to unionize. After delivery drivers voted to unionize in Palmdale, California in 2023, becoming the first third-party subcontracted Delivery Service Partner (DSP) workers to do so, Amazon cut ties with the subcontracted company, resulting in the layoff the delivery drivers.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against Amazon last October affirming that the e-commerce monopoly is a joint employer of DSP drivers, and hence it must recognize and negotiate with the union representing the drivers. Amazon has since continued to refuse negotiations with subcontracted drivers who voted to unionize across the US, prompting strikes at five DSP warehouses last December.
Amid the e-commerce monopoly’s union-busting attempts, Amazon workers continue to advance unionization efforts. Last May, workers at a warehouse in British Columbia, Canada voted to unionize under Unifor, and the unionization process continues as the union meets with BC Labour Relations Board for accreditation. In the US, Amazon warehouse workers at Garner, North Carolina are scheduled to hold a union election on February 10, after workers filed a petition for union elections following a two-year unionization campaign. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, workers at Whole Foods voted to unionize under the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union on Monday, becoming the first Whole Foods to unionize since Amazon’s acquisition of the supermarket chain.
Photo: CSN rally in Quebec. Retrieved from CSN website.
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