Ontario Amazon Worker Reacts to Quebec Amazon shutdown

The North Star spoke with an Amazon warehouse worker about his reaction to the multinational's recent decision to pull out of Quebec. Last month, Amazon shut down its Quebec warehouses in the middle of negotiations with the STTAL-CSN, Canada's first union of Amazon workers.

As soon as Ontario Amazon worker Jordan* heard of the complete shutdown of Amazon in Quebec, he "knew this was directly related to the unionization [at the Laval location] and it couldn't be anything else."

Jordan said that "Amazon is very scared of having a contract forced on them by the province of Quebec just because of the way their labour laws work." 

The Amazon facility New York that successfully unionized has not caused a statewide shutdown like this one did in Quebec.

Quebec has stronger labour laws than Ontario and New York. Jordan believes the corporation must know this, so the move to leave the province entirely is "union busting to the maximum degree," he says.

The Amazon worker said that the company's Quebec operations have "always been this thing where they had small facilities in Quebec, small delivery stations, and they had fewer workers there. No one really understood why. And now maybe we know the answer why is that Amazon was always a little bit hesitant in Quebec."

Jordan says Ontario is a different ballgame.

"We don't foresee a future where Amazon would pull out of the entire province at once. It would be much more difficult in Ontario. We must understand the amount that the network in Ontario is integrated with the American network. We service parts of the U.S., as well, just by being close to the border."

In Ontario Amazon facilities, workers like Jordan are discussing what the implications are in Ontario of the Quebec closure. "The fact is that the only thing that can protect us from these kind of firings is continuing to organize to build power inside the warehouses," he told The North Star.

"At the end of the day, if Amazon wants to pull this tactic again—if the corporation is going to subcontract us out, it's been proven in the United States, [people are] organizing subcontractors for Amazon, too."

"Go ahead and fire us, and we will organize the next place we work at," Jordan said.

Jordan was impressed by the Amazon boycott movement being carried out in Quebec:

"It is scary for workers, but at the same time, I think on the other hand, when you see society come together, like the entire province of Quebec come together and boycott Amazon, you see how much support there is for Amazon workers in particular. They're at the centre of an important struggle."

#BoycottAmazon has been trending on X/Twitter since the Amazon Quebec closures. 

The union which represents the workers at the DXT4 warehouse in Laval is taking legal action against Amazon. It is petitioning a court to annul the layoffs and order the reopening of the warehouses. It will also ask for payment of compensation and damages. Such a decision would be a victory not only for the DXT4 workers, but for 1.55 million Amazon workers worldwide.

*At his request, The North Star has published Jordan's statements under a pseudonym.