Amazon introduced on Wednesday it should shutter its services in Quebec within the coming weeks and minimize greater than 1,700 jobs.
An organization spokesperson mentioned Amazon will outsource deliveries to smaller contractors. The spokesperson insisted that the choice was tied to price financial savings — not the current unionization of about 300 workers at a Laval, Que., warehouse.
“Following a recent review of our Quebec operations,” the spokesperson mentioned in an emailed assertion, “we found that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to the one we had until 2020, will enable us to offer the same excellent service and deliver even greater savings to our customers in the long term.”
It was not instantly clear when Amazon would shut its services, however the spokesperson informed Radio-Canada it might occur within the “next two months.”
Quebec is dwelling to Amazon’s solely unionized workforce in Canada. Staff in Laval unionized final yr, saying they had been dissatisfied with what they described as a busy work tempo, low wages and insufficient well being and security measures.
Union denounces choice
The CSN, the union federation that represents the employees, launched an announcement denouncing the closures.
The union mentioned it had realized of Amazon’s choice to shut its Quebec services early Wednesday when it obtained an electronic mail from an Amazon lawyer.
“This decision makes no sense whatsoever,” CSN president Caroline Senneville mentioned in an announcement. “Neither from a business point of view, nor from an operational point of view. Amazon, one of the most integrated companies between the click of a mouse and home delivery, would entrust all its warehousing and distribution operations throughout Quebec to a third party?”
At a current demonstration, the Laval employees mentioned they had been demanding $26 per hour, a $6 pay improve.
Amazon had mentioned it was negotiating with the employees, however they’d not but reached a collective settlement.
The corporate opened its first facility in Quebec in 2020 within the borough of Lachine. It now has seven websites in Quebec, together with sorting centres and warehouses. Most of them are within the Montreal space. One is in Coteau-du-Lac, about 60 kilometres west of the town.
In 2021, when Amazon introduced 5 new services in Quebec, the corporate had mentioned it was desperate to develop its operations within the province, touting the necessity to answer higher demand and velocity up supply occasions.
On Wednesday morning, employees on the facility in Lachine expressed shock and disappointment after studying of the corporate’s choice.
“Nobody saw this coming,” one employee mentioned. “No idea what I’m going to do. I need time to digest this.”
The spokesperson mentioned the scaling again of its Quebec operations would consequence within the closure of all seven of its websites.
Workers will probably be given as a lot as 14 weeks’ wage in severance, the corporate mentioned.
Amazon grew to become a $2 trillion firm final yr. It has services and hundreds of workers throughout Canada.
Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet informed reporters the federal government will present assist to the employees who misplaced their jobs to assist them re-enter the labour market as shortly as attainable. He mentioned there are nonetheless labour shortages in some sectors and expressed optimism that the employees would have the ability to discover new jobs.
He declined to touch upon the explanations Amazon gave for closing its Quebec services, however mentioned the regulation dictates that Amazon difficulty the federal government a proper discover of collective choice, which it has not but executed.
Intelcom, a Montreal-based courier and package deal supply firm that Amazon subcontracts for deliveries, launched an announcement saying solely that it might proceed working with Amazon to “respond to their delivery needs in Quebec.”
Amazon’s shares had been up on Wednesday afternoon.
After efficiently unionizing in Might of 2024, employees at an Amazon facility in Laval, Que., predict a primary provide from the corporate in January after six months of negotiations and calls for for wage will increase.
