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Quebec's Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) has issued a ruling against Amazon's union-busting practices at a Montreal-area warehouse. Today's decision found that Amazon has unlawfully worked to block workers at its YUL2 warehouse in Lachine from forming a union.
The ALT has ordered Amazon to remove the ubiquitous anti-union posters and electronic messages from the warehouse, to not publish any statements denigrating the unionization effort, and to inform all workers at the warehouse of the decision against it. Amazon must also pay $30,000 in moral and punitive damages to the CSN, the union seeking to represent workers at YUL2.
The case came before the ALT just over a year ago when the CSN made a complaint about Amazon's interference in the ongoing union campaign at the Lachine warehouse. Their complaint also addressed Amazon's use of threats and intimidation to coerce workers into not signing a union card.
The unionization efforts at YUL2 began in 2022. As the campaign gained steam, workers noticed anti-union messages appearing on posters, flyers, and digital screens throughout the warehouse. Amazon also brought in "Employee Relations" staff to question workers on the floor about the union campaign while they were trying to work.
Seth Goldstein, a lawyer for the Amazon Labor Union in the United States explained the effect of these impromptu interrogations: "They go around on the floor, and take [the workers] off task, and sometimes people lose productivity.” In a high-pressure workplace like Amazon where productivity metrics alone can lead to firing, workers are impelled to avoid such interruptions.
One organizer at YUL2 testified that this on-the-floor grilling had the effect of isolating him from his coworkers in the warehouse. Workers no longer wanted to talk to him if they risked being interrupted by Amazon's Employee Relations.
While the ALT found that Amazon had unlawfully obstructed the union campaign, it stopped short of affirming the CSN's accusations of intimidation. Nevertheless, the decision in favour of the CSN is an important symbolic victory for workers against the e-commerce behemoth.
"As with the victory of the unionization campaign at DXT4 [in Laval], this decision proves that Amazon is not invincible," says Félix Trudeau, president of the Laval Amazon Workers' Union, which is also affiliated with the CSN. "Despite their best efforts, they can't stop workers from unionizing. Because in the end, we realize that the union is our best tool for defending our interests and significantly improving our working conditions."