MONTREAL — Demonstrators gathered in Montreal today to protest Amazon’s decision to shutter its seven warehouses in Quebec, including what was Canada’s only unionized Amazon facility.
Confédération des syndicats nationaux, the labour group organizing the demonstration, is calling for a boycott of the e-commerce giant whose decision the CSN says has cost more than 4,500 people their jobs.
Félix Trudeau, who represented the now laid-off workers at the unionized warehouse in Laval, Que., has accused Amazon of closing the facility to quash unionization efforts after his union was certified last May.
The CSN says the company wanted to stop what would have been the workers’ first collective agreement in North America at Amazon and intimidate employees elsewhere.
Amazon has dismissed accusations of union-busting, saying its decision to close the warehouses was based on delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers.
However, McGill University sociology professor Barry Eidlin says Amazon is likely closing its Quebec warehouses because the province’s labour laws would have forced contract arbitration if an agreement wasn’t struck through negotiation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2025.
Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press
