Amazon is being threatened with legal action by a trade union in Canada, after the e-commerce giant closed seven warehouses in Quebec.

Last month Amazon had confirmed it would close all seven of its warehouses in the Canadian province of Quebec, with the loss of 1,700 full-time jobs.

The warehouse closures happen to be in the only location in Canada with unionised Amazon employees, and the firm said it would return to a third-party delivery model, enlisting subcontractors to handle deliveries.

Warehouse closures, job losses

Amazon at the time had insisted the decision was based on cost-savings – and not the unionisation of 300 employees at the Laval Que warehouse, after staff had reportedly complained about a hectic work pace, low wages and inadequate health and safety measures.

The Federation of National Trade Unions, known as CSN, that represents the unionised workers, had fiercely denounced the closures last month, saying it had only learned of Amazon’s decision to close its Quebec facilities on the day of the closure announcement, when it received an email from an Amazon lawyer.

Now CSN announced Tuesday that it plans to petition a court to order Amazon to reopen seven warehouses and restore the 1,700 jobs lost as a result of the closures.

CSN said that Amazon’s decision to close its seven warehouses in Québec and outsource operations has one and only one purpose: to shut down the current unionisation effort and avoid signing its first collective agreement in North America.

“They’re not fooling anyone,” said CSN president Caroline Senneville. “The only reason for Amazon to have a different business model just for Québec is that there’s a union here and an arbitrator could have imposed a first collective agreement as early as the summer of 2025.”

Amazon boycott, protests

CSN said that “in view of Amazon’s blatant union-busting motives, which violate several sections of Québec’s Labour Code,” it is “urging the federal and provincial governments, municipalities, and all public and parapublic agencies to stop buying from Amazon and to cancel all contracts with Amazon and its subsidiaries, including cloud services. The CSN believes those dollars should go to local businesses instead.”

The CSN said it is also calling on the public to boycott Amazon by not shopping on its online platform and cancelling Amazon Prime subscriptions.

CSN said that the total job losses to the region caused by the warehouse closures was 4,500 jobs, which included Amazon workers and subcontractors.

A demonstration against Amazon’s actions in Montréal is planned for 15 February.

“A company that flouts our laws shouldn’t be allowed to do business here, let alone receive public contracts,” said Caroline Senneville.

Legal action

And CSN also said that legal action will also be taken in the coming days.

“In light of the anti-union agenda behind Amazon’s ruthless actions, the CSN will petition the court to annul the mass layoff and order the reopening of the seven warehouses, the reinstatement of the 1,700 Amazon employees, and the payment of compensation and damages,” said the trade union.

“The closures announced by Amazon aren’t true closures in the legal sense, since Amazon plans to continue selling its products to Quebecers online,” Senneville said.

“Amazon thinks it can just shift the work to other corporate entities and outsource some warehousing and delivery operations,” said Senneville. “What it calls its ‘new business model’ is just an attempt to circumvent its obligations under the Labour Code. The court should recognise that this scheme violates the law and it can then order the reinstatement of Amazon’s workers.”

Unionisation efforts

Amazon’s decision to close its Quebec facilities and axe thousands of jobs will no doubt be closed watched south of the border.

Amazon warehouse workers at a site in North Carolina will vote this month on whether to join a union. The location is said to be a facility in Garner, North Carolina.

Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia also voted 27 January to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

It should be noted that Amazon delivery drivers and warehouse workers in seven cities across US had staged a two day strike just before Christmas 2024, after the e-commerce giant failed to negotiate with staff.

It is fair to say that Amazon is not overly enthusiastic about trade unions, and the e-commerce giant has still not formally recognised its first-ever facility that voted to unionise in Staten Island back in 2022.

The company has filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board and in September 2024 filed a federal lawsuit challenging the NLRB’s constitutionality.