Amazon shutters 7 warehouses in Quebec after workers win a union

By Joe Young
February 10, 2025

On Jan. 22 Amazon announced it is closing all seven of its distribution centers in Quebec in the next two months. This will cost the jobs of over 3,000 workers — 1,950 who work directly for Amazon and 1,459 at other companies that do deliveries, the Quebec Ministry of Work and Social Solidarity said.

Recently workers at a warehouse in Laval, north of Montreal, won union certification, a first in Canada. They are negotiating for their first contract.

Amazon claims that the closures have nothing to do with the union drive. “This is about offering the best service we can to customers in a way that’s efficient and cost-effective,” spokesperson Barbara Agrait told the Canadian Press. The company will hire outside delivery services.

“It’s because of the unionization. They say it’s not that. But this is not a company going bankrupt,” Mustapha Brahim, a worker at the Laval warehouse, told the Militant. “Perhaps they don’t want other Amazon sites to unionize.

“These companies want people to work at the rhythm imposed by their rules. You couldn’t complain if you were sick, if you were injured,” he said. “The company knew that with the union there would be a slowdown of work.”

“There is no doubt that the closures announced today are part of an anti-union campaign against the CSN and against the employees of Amazon,” Carole Senneville, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions, said in a statement. “The CSN will never abandon its mission to unionize and defend the rights of the workers.”

The Canadian Labour Congress and Unifor, a major union in the private sector, have denounced Amazon’s move. Unifor expressed its support for the CSN.

At the same time, Unifor is seeking to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Delta, British Columbia.

“My thoughts go out to the families of the workers,” Francois Legault, the premier of Quebec, said. “But it remains that Amazon, is a private company, it’s a business decision of a private company.”