Listen to daily commentary from program director Murray Wood
Murray Wood says big sporting events sometimes present an issue for viewers who kind of want both teams to lose.
MONTREAL — The union that represents workers at what was Canada’s only unionized Amazon warehouse says the online retail giant has begun shutting down its seven facilities in Quebec this week, putting thousands of employees out of work.
Félix Trudeau, union president for the Laval, Que., Amazon warehouse that unionized last May said he has confirmation that three warehouses in the Montreal area, including his own, closed late Friday night.
Some workers showed up to their late shifts Friday night only to find out the warehouses closed, Trudeau said, adding he heard that a fourth warehouse, located in Montreal, closed earlier this week despite being scheduled to shutter in March.
However Amazon said in a statement that the three facilities closed Saturday as planned, while it said the fourth location closed earlier than prescribed without specifying when.
The company is cutting nearly 2,000 jobs, but the number of total layoffs rises to about 4,500 when workers employed by subcontractors are factored in, according to Quebec labour group Confédération des syndicats nationaux.
Trudeau, who represents about 260 Amazon workers, accused the e-commerce goliath of closing its warehouses in the province to punish employees at his warehouse for unionizing last May. He is called for a boycott until Amazon reopens its facilities or agrees to pay all its laid-off employees one year’s salary with benefits.
“We want there to be consequences for Amazon’s anti-union, anti-Quebec actions. We want the government at the different levels of government — municipal, provincial and federal — not only to stop buying from Amazon but to stop supporting Amazon’s behaviour by cutting their contracts with Amazon and all of its affiliates,” he said in an interview Saturday.
On Thursday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced on X that the City of Montreal would cease ordering on Amazon “until further notice.”
Amazon has previously dismissed the suggestion that the closures are linked to a unionization push in the province and has said they are aimed at delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers. The closure of the Quebec facilities will mean Amazon will revert to a business model it used in the province up until 2020, which employed local, third-party companies for package deliveries.
On Saturday afternoon, protesters temporarily occupied an office belonging to Intelcom, a courier and package delivery company, in Montreal’s Anjou borough. One of the protesters, Benoît Dumais, said demonstrators wanted to send a message because Intelcom will become a major subcontractor for Amazon in the province after closing down its own warehouses
“We were there to denounce Amazon but also expose that Intelcom is going to be the subcontractors and their working conditions are also very poor, so we’re still in the same logic of very cheap labour-intensive work,” he said.
Intelcom responded to the accusations by saying it “has always been committed to providing a flexible work environment and growth opportunities for all its employees.”
Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said 20 to 30 demonstrators took part and there were no arrests. The group left the offices to protest in front of the building shortly after police arrived, he said.
Trudeau said protesters will be picket in front of the formerly unionized Amazon warehouse in Laval on Sunday.
—With files from Maura Forrest
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2025.
Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press
