Online retail giant Amazon announced Wednesday that it will close all seven of its warehouses in the Canadian province of Quebec within the next two months.
The e-commerce giant said the move would result in “further savings for customers in the long term.” But a Canadian union that successfully unionized one warehouse accused the company of shutting down locations to fend off local organizing efforts.
Amazon said the closure will result in the loss of about 1,700 permanent, full-time jobs in the Greater Montreal area. The warehouse also employs 250 temporary workers.
Amazon said it would rely on local third-party companies to deliver packages, reverting to the business model it used in Quebec before 2020.
“This decision was not made lightly, and we are providing impacted employees with up to 14 weeks of pay after the facility closes, as well as job placement resources and more,” Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agreit said in a statement. We are offering a package that includes transition allowances.”
Agrait said the decision was made following a “recent review” of the company’s operations in the state. The facilities being closed include one fulfillment center, two sorting centers, three delivery stations, and a facility Amazon calls AMXL to help ship large items like TVs and furniture.
Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne posted on social media platform X that he has contacted the head of Amazon’s operations in Canada to share his opposition.
“I expressed my disappointment and frustration after learning in the news that we intend to lay off 1,700 employees and close all seven of our warehouses in Quebec,” Champagne said. “This is not the way business is done in Canada.”
About 240 Amazon employees at the company’s warehouse in the Montreal suburb of Laval formed a union in May, making it the first union at the company’s Canadian warehouse. Amazon challenged the union’s right to represent workers, but lost in state labor court in October.
Caroline Senneville, president of a union involved in organizing in Laval, called Wednesday’s shutdown a “slap in the face to all Quebec workers” and part of an anti-union movement. “There is no question,” he said.
“This is a violation of labor law and we will take a firm stand against it,” she said in a press release.
Michael Link, a professor emeritus of law at Western University, said he sees Amazon’s move as a “Groundhog Day of industrial relations” for Quebec, citing a similar situation with Walmart Canada 20 years ago. Ta.
Walmart closed a store in Jonquière, Quebec, citing profitability issues just months after workers received union recognition.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union decided to fight back, and in 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada agreed that Walmart had violated Quebec’s labor laws.
First published: January 22, 2025, 4:52 PM EST
