“It’s terrorism against the working class”

Amazon's DXT4 warehouse in Laval, the first to be unionized in the country, will close its doors on February 8. Hundreds of workers who operated the warehouse are out of a job, as are thousands of workers at other Amazon warehouses in Quebec. Some are at risk of deportation. Members of the union, the Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs d'Amazon Laval (STTAL) are already organizing a fightback against the multinational.

The North Star spoke to STTAL president Félix Trudeau to understand the reasons behind the closure and their plan to undermine the multinational.

It was on January 22, prior to a negotiation meeting, that the megacorporation announced it was closing its seven Quebec warehouses. The STTAL president explains: “I received a call from the CSN negotiator who told me that they had received notice by e-mail that morning that Amazon was ceasing operations in Quebec.”

Félix Trudeau calls this sudden decision anti-worker terrorism. “Amazon, by doing this, is trying to send a message to workers in Canada, 'Don't unionize. Don't even try to ask for a raise of a few dollars. We'll shut down. You don't have the real right to organize collectively.' This is terrorism against the working class. Very literally, it's aimed at creating terror in the labour movement.”

For the STTAL president, there are two main causes for this act of intimidation against workers. The first is the success of the unionization campaign. The other is the arbitration measures that would have enabled them to obtain the world's first collective agreement in an Amazon warehouse.

“I think it's really the fact that we were going to end up with a collective agreement that was going to set an example for the entire North American labour movement. I think that's what's driving their decision, because we were going to have union rights. We were going to have improvements in working conditions, and that's what scared Amazon.”

Fear that the union movement would spread to other warehouses was also a factor, he adds.

“There were campaigns in other warehouses. We were hoping for victories in other warehouses. We were working hard on that. Amazon was clearly aware that there were campaigns in other warehouses, and not just in Quebec. Their intention is to send a message to workers and unions in Canada and the U.S.”

The economic rationalization for the closures provided by the multinational doesn't hold water, according to the DXT4 worker.

“They've spent the last few years investing a huge amount of money in vertical integration, greatly reducing their dependence on subcontractors, and all of a sudden they do a 180-degree turn and rely completely on subcontractors. It's economically absurd. It doesn't make any sense. They're throwing away four years of investment."

STTAL members, for their part, took the news very badly. “The general reaction of colleagues is anger, I think. That's the most widespread feeling. It's a deep sense of injustice and betrayal.”

Trudeau explains that by closing the warehouse, the multinational is putting many workers at risk of deportation. “There is a strong majority of workers in my warehouse and in Amazon warehouses in general who do not have permanent residency. The fact that they don't have a job threatens their ability to stay in Canada. So we're at risk of deportation as a result.”

However, STTAL has not said its last word. Its president explains that workers at the seven closed warehouses are planning a fightback against the multinational.

“What we're planning is a mobilization of Amazon workers in conjunction with the Ici, on boycotte Amazon citizen campaign. We're demanding a year's salary with benefits for all Amazon workers, the 4,500 laid-off workers out on the street. We're also demanding that the federal, provincial and municipal governments cut all ties with Amazon and its subsidiaries in Canada, and that Amazon reimburse the hundreds of millions of dollars they've received in subsidies and public funds since setting up shop in Quebec.”

"If the boycott is to succeed, it will have to be taken up by workers in general. Indeed, their right to unionize is threatened if we let Amazon intimidate us,” insists Trudeau.

“The crux of the battle is the mobilization of workers and the support of the Quebec labour movement and the people of Quebec. The people of Quebec and the Quebec labour movement are being attacked in the same way as Amazon workers. We need a collective, Quebec-wide response to this attack."