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Members of the STTAL–CSN, Canada's first union of Amazon workers, demonstrated at their workplace in Laval, Quebec on December 23. The e-commerce monopoly has stonewalled the union in negotiations for six months and is expected to make a salary offer in January. Members of the union hope their pressure tactics will lead to a wage increase that approaches the salary of other unionized warehouses.
Workers at the DXT4 warehouse in Laval start at $20 per hour with a maximum salary of $22. In September, Amazon granted a $1.50 per hour wage increase to workers at its other Quebec warehouses, but withheld the raise from DXT4 workers as an apparent punishment for unionizing.
STTAL–CSN President Félix Trudeau told The North Star that starting wages at other unionized warehouses in the province are $25 to $30 per hour, with seniority raises approaching $35. The union is demanding a starting wage of $26 and a raise to $30 after three years.
"It's not as if they don't have enough money to pay us," says Trudeau. "They could very well give us a raise to give us a salary that allows us to have a life, not just to survive, but to save, to buy decent things. Rents have become expensive, food has become expensive, gas, all the inflation. We don't just have to catch up, we have to have good living conditions that reflect the fact that we're absolutely essential to the company, to all the cash Amazon makes."
Amazon net profit for the 12 months ending September 30, 2024, was US$49.9B, a nearly 150% increase year-over-year.
If Amazon's offer does not satisfy the union, the matter could go to arbitration, or the union could continue to escalate pressure tactics. If the union accepts an offer, it will become the first Amazon union even to get a collective bargaining agreement, signalling a major victory for Amazon workers around the world.
"When I talk about other warehouses, we know that we're experiencing the same problems. It's not just in Quebec, it's all over the world," says Trudeau. "In the United States, in Europe, everyone who works at Amazon is experiencing the same problems: low wages, the pace, the lack of consideration, the lack of respect for employees."
For Trudeau, the possibility of a collective agreement is not an "if," but a "when":
"Amazon doesn't want a union. That's why it's taking so long. They're resisting, but ultimately a union is the democratic will of the workers. We'll get it in the end."
Monday's protest coincided with a large wave of demonstrations, pickets and work stoppages at Amazon warehouses in the United States. Trudeau commended his colleagues south of the border for taking action in what he sees as a shared struggle.
"I salute the work of Teamster union members in the United States on this," he remarked. "I wish them every success. If we win, it helps them. If they win, it helps us. It's the solidarity of the working class. That's what we want to achieve."