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Amazon officially closed its DXT4 warehouse in Laval on Friday, February 7. On February 9, workers and supporters gathered in front of the warehouse for a first day of picketing. They demanded proper compensation for all workers who were let go, including the many temporary workers and drivers who have not been given severance.
DXT4 was the first of seven Amazon warehouses to be closed in Quebec as the multinational moves to subcontract its services in the province. It was the first and only unionized Amazon warehouse in Canada.
The North Star spoke to Uguelin Jean-Baptiste, a worker from the unionized DXT4 warehouse, about the closure. Jean-Baptiste stressed the centrality of the workers' struggle for democracy in their workplace.
"We dared to unionize within Amazon, and that is why they made the decision to close their doors, because they believe that we do not have the right to better working conditions," he said. "Because we demand an appropriate salary for our work, we demand working conditions that will avoid injuries every day, every week, instead of granting us working conditions appropriate to our safety, they decide instead to close their doors."
The significance of DXT4 being the first to be closed is not lost on the workers or the union. It was the final option for the company after an almost year-long attempt to weaken, discredit, and ignore the union and the demands of its worker. This included appealing the union vote, challenging Quebec labour laws in court, refusing to negotiate in good faith, giving pay raises exclusively to its non-unionized warehouses, and finally pulling out of the province before an arbitrated negotiation would have been imposed on them.
Jean-Baptiste pointed to the importance of a societal response to Amazon's attack on Quebec's workers:
"If there is no boycott initiative from the government and the population, it will set a bad precedent for the future in Quebec society."
He concluded that the government's response has been lacking so far.
The ongoing pickets aim to keep workers mobilized and together so they can keep up the fight. Wesley Marceau, vice president of the union at DXT4, says they are also a place for workers to learn more about accessing employment services.
Pickets will be one of a multitude of tactics being employed by the union and community organizations in response to the closures. On February 8, the labour organization Alliance Ouvrière occupied a warehouse owned by Intelcom, which is positioned to take over Amazon deliveries in the province.
The Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), to which the DXT4 workers' union belongs, is planning a large protest in Montreal on February 15. The protest intends to pressure the provincial and federal government to cut business ties with Amazon. Tens of millions of dollars of public money are dedicated to contracts with Amazon Web Services.
"The provincial government has been playing lip service to this movement and acting like they would want to maybe participate in the divesting, when in reality, they could have done it as soon as this announcement happened," says Louisa Worrell, co-spokesperson for the Here We Boycott Amazon campaign. "They could have shown that they really are there to represent the interests of the people, but instead they're just pretending and still giving money to this corporation that has just spat in our faces."
Worrell reiterated the need for workers and concerned citizens to stay mobilized and keep pressure on the government:
"I know that governments respond when the people rise up. So the only way that we're gonna get a response from the government is by continuing to rally people around this movement and continue to support the workers in their struggle."