1500 people call for action against Amazon in Quebec

On Saturday, February 15, at least 1,500 people marched in Montreal to protest the closure of Amazon's seven warehouses in Quebec. Several unions marched, led by the CSN leadership and the Syndicat des travailleurs d'Amazon Laval (STTAL), accompanied by activists from Alliance Ouvrière and the Here We Boycott Amazon campaign.

Among the demands put forward by the demonstrators were: suspension of all the multinational's activities in Quebec, expropriation of all the company's land and assets in Quebec, repayment of all public subsidies received by Amazon, and one year's salary and insurance for the 4,500 laid-off workers.

In a speech, Louisa Worrell, co-spokesperson for Here We Boycott Amazon, emphasized the massive public support for the campaign. “The world stands with Amazon workers. For every person who is here, there are 2,000 people who support us. We can't let up.”

She urged protesters not to be afraid of Jeff Bezos. “He's a billionaire who represents an economic dictatorship. He doesn't want to follow the rules. He wants to do things his own way. He doesn't want to negotiate with the union. We reject that. We're not afraid. The enemy is great. We're strong as long as we stay together, so let's be united.”

Worrell called out the CAQ, which has yet to take any action to distance itself from Amazon or protect the 4,500 workers put out on the street:

“We want the Legault government to respect the will of the people. We want them to kick Amazon out. You want to steal from workers. You want to violate their rights. So let's defend our rights and demand that our politicians live up to that. Legault, we want action!”

Finally, she invited people to take part in the Here We Boycott Amazon demonstration on March 1 at 1 p.m. at Philips Square to express their impatience with the government for allowing Amazon to trample workers' rights with impunity.

For his part, STTAL president Félix Trudeau insists that this demonstration is just the beginning of a broad mobilization of citizens against the multinational. “We're here to start a real popular mobilization so that there are consequences for what Amazon has done and to continue the workers' democratic movement.”

“Now we need to mobilize many more Amazon workers. We need to mobilize the labour movement and the entire population of Quebec to put pressure on Amazon and the government to fight for justice.”

Despite the scale of the task, the STTAL president is optimistic. “I can feel the momentum. I feel the will of the union movement and the people of Quebec to fight. I think that if we continue to mobilize and stand our ground, I think we can achieve great things.”

At the end of the demonstration, Jean-Baptiste Uguelin, a worker from the DXT4 warehouse in Laval, took the floor to express his anger. “It's bandit behaviour when a multinational like Amazon decides to close its doors in the middle of negotiations-negotiations in which we demand better working conditions, negotiations in which we demand a wage appropriate to our labour power.”

“It's bandit behaviour when a multinational like Amazon decides to close its doors while it leaves hundreds of employees with injuries. Today, we're here to denounce this decision. We're here to ask the entire Quebec population to boycott Amazon.”

Support for the campaign to boycott the megacorporation and for the demands of the laid-off workers continues to grow. Organizations and unions across Canada have lent their support to the campaign, notably in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto.