Protestors Block Amazon Packages at MAERSK Warehouse

Around 20 people blocked MAERSK trucks from entering and exiting the company's Montreal-North warehouse on Friday morning. The action, organized by the group Workers' Alliance under the theme “Amazon Crime Day”, was aimed at denouncing the Quebec government's inaction and complicity in Amazon's mass layoffs by directly affecting the profits of a company that plays a key role in the multinational's supply chain.

For about an hour, no trucks were allowed in or out of the warehouse. The demonstrators dispersed peacefully when Montreal police officers ordered them to leave.

Prime Day is an annual three-day sale for Amazon customers. This is the first Prime Day since the closure of all Quebec warehouses in February. These closures followed the unionization of one of the warehouses in Laval. Amazon had even gone so far as to file a constitutional appeal against the Quebec Labor Code, attacking the right to have a recognized union. The CAQ government, for its part, took no action to defend the laid-off workers.

MAERSK is a Danish multinational logistics company currently partnering with Amazon on an international scale. A worker at the Montreal warehouse told The North Star that the vast majority of packages handled there are from Amazon.

The action was also aimed at denouncing MAERSK's complicity in the genocide in Palestine. MAERSK is the main company shipping weapons and military equipment from the USA to Israel.

Research has shown that MAERSK makes a profit by transporting not only arms and munitions, but also millions of tons of military cargo: tactical vehicles, armored tank parts, aircraft and artillery systems.

An activist from the Divest for Palestine group added during a speech amid the blockade:

"In particular, MAERSK has close links with the F35 fighter aircraft program. Wings, structures and panels for Lockheed Martin fighter jets are shipped on MAERSK liners to the United States, where they are manufactured, then sent to massacre Palestinians and resistance to imperialism in the various countries of the Arab region."