Latest news with #CarolineSenneville
Hamilton Spectator
17-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Amazon, worker union before Quebec labour tribunal over warehouse closures
MONTREAL - A Quebec labour tribunal has begun hearing a case against Amazon over the e-commerce giant's closure in January of seven warehouses in the province. Some 1,700 employees lost their jobs following Amazon's sudden termination of its Quebec warehouse operations months after workers at a Montreal-area facility unionized with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux. In a news release, the CSN union said it is asking the tribunal to overturn Amazon's decision to close the seven centres and force the company to pay all 1,700 workers one year's salary. The CSN says Amazon has asked the tribunal to exclude the six non-unionized warehouses and limit the scope of the hearing to 287 unionized workers at the facility in Laval, Que. 'We are hopeful that the court will see clearly and ensure that the labour laws and charters of rights that prevail in Quebec are respected,' CSN president Caroline Senneville said in a statement. Amazon has said its closures were about delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers, not a response to the union drive. Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesman, said employees were provided with a package that included up to 14 weeks' pay after the warehouses were shuttered, in addition to other transition benefits like job placement. 'Throughout this process, we've complied and will continue to comply with all applicable federal and provincial laws,' Kelly said. A spokesman for the union says the hearings are scheduled to take place intermittently over the next few months. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Canadian Union to Take Legal Action Against Amazon for ‘Blatant Union-Busting Motives'
A Canadian union plans to take Amazon to task, claiming planned Québec, Canada, closures came only to shut down a unionization effort. The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) has stated it will pursue legal action against the e-commerce behemoth for violations of Canadian labor law. The union's announcement comes just weeks after Amazon announced in late January that it would close seven warehouses in Québec, Canada, which will result in 1,700 full-time Amazon employees losing their jobs. More from Sourcing Journal This Bankrupt Reverse Logistics Expert/Closeout Chain Blames Amazon What the Tariffs Mean For Fashion And Retail Trump Tariffs Prompt Swift Retaliation by North American Trade Partners, Hand-Wringing from Economists and Industry Leaders Part of the CSN's gripe with Amazon is that, leading up to the company's plan to close the facilities, workers at the DXT4 Amazon warehouse in Laval, Québec, had been negotiating a contract after voting to unionize; the Canadian arbiter approved their application in May 2024, but the group of workers had yet to come to a finished collective bargaining agreement with the Prime purveyor. Bargaining began in July 2024, and CSN expected to see an agreement signed this year. Senneville said the CSN believes the presence of a union dissuaded Amazon from doing further business in the province. 'They're not fooling anyone,' she said. 'The only reason for Amazon to have a different business model just for Québec is that there's a union here and an arbitrator could have imposed a first collective agreement as early as the summer of 2025.' CSN said Tuesday that it plans to petition a court to void the layoffs, reopen the seven warehouses it plans to close, reinstate the employees impacted by the closures and pay them damages. Caroline Senneville, president of the CSN, said Amazon's 'blatant union-busting motives' violate the country's labor code. 'The closures announced by Amazon aren't true closures in the legal sense, since Amazon plans to continue selling its products to Quebecers online,' Senneville said. 'Amazon thinks it can just shift the work to other corporate entities and outsource some warehousing and delivery operations. What it calls its 'new business model' is just an attempt to circumvent its obligations under the Labour Code. The court should recognize that this scheme violates the law and it can then order the reinstatement of Amazon's workers.' But Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said the closures, which will see the e-commerce giant shifting back to a delivery model 'supported by local small businesses,' don't violate Canadian law. 'In making this decision, we've complied and will continue to comply with all applicable federal and provincial laws,' she said in an emailed statement, noting that the company's plans have not changed in light of the CSN's threats. According to the CSN, the union will fight on 'issues such as retroactive pay and recall rights in the event of reopening.' As such, it submitted a request for first contract arbitration to Canada's labor minister last week. In addition to its legal threats, the CSN has asked consumers, companies and Canadian government agencies to boycott Amazon, whether by not buying products from the platform, canceling Amazon Prime subscriptions, axing contracts with Amazon and its subsidiaries like AWS or otherwise. The union said though Amazon's decision to shutter the warehouses directly impacted 1,700 of its own employees, approximately 2,800 others have lost or will lose their jobs as a byproduct of the decision. That, it contends, is because Amazon worked with subcontractors to meet its needs in the Canadian province. Senneville said, from the CSN's perspective, if Amazon doesn't want to remain a piece of Québec's economy, agencies shouldn't give it opportunities to turn profits in the area. 'A company that flouts our laws shouldn't be allowed to do business here, let alone receive public contracts,' Senneville said. 'Many local businesses have been hard hit by the upheaval in the retail sector caused by Amazon's arrival in Québec. Now more than 4,500 people have lost their jobs. It's time to take a stand against Amazon's repeated offenses and support our own businesses. Let's stop buying from Amazon and start buying locally instead.'
