Quebec union confederation calling for Amazon boycott, planning legal action

After Amazon closed seven factories in Quebec, one of he province's largest union groups is calling for a boycott and planning legal action.

One of Quebec’s largest union confederations is calling for a boycott of Amazon after the company closed seven warehouses in the province last month.

The CSN (Confédération des syndicats nationaux), which represents around 330,000 workers, accused the tech giant of having “blatant union-busting motives.”

“They’re not fooling anyone,” said CSN president Caroline Senneville. “The only reason for Amazon to have a different business model just for Quebec is that there’s a union here and an arbitrator could have imposed a first collective agreement as early as the summer of 2025.”

The CSN, which includes around 1,600 affiliated unions, also said it would proceed with legal action against Amazon. The confederation said it wants the mass layoffs cancelled and seven warehouses reopened.

“The closures announced by Amazon aren’t true closures in the legal sense, since Amazon plans to continue selling its products to Quebecers online,” said Senneville.

“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.”

The CSN news release says that the confederation filed an application to represent employees at the Laval warehouse in April. Many employees signed union cards and the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) certified the union in May.

Bobbie-Jo Vaughan worked at the Lachine warehouse and has no doubt that Amazon moved due to union activities.

“Absolutely,” she said. “We were fighting there for a union and every time we tried to fight for a union, they would post signs in the warehouse saying that unions charge you fees, unions do this, unions do that, which was illegal, and we would tell them and they would still do it anyway.”

The tribunal found Amazon guilty of anti-union interference and obstruction at a Lachine warehouse and ordered the company to pay $30,000 in August.

The closure of the warehouses in Laval, Lachine and Saint-Hubert, the CSN said, violates Quebec Labour Code and the union is calling on all levels of government to cancel contracts and for the public to stop using the site for online shopping and to cancel Amazon Prime subscriptions.

Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said the decision was not a response to the workers' union efforts.

“We made this decision because we’ve seen that returning to a third-party delivery model in Quebec supported by local small businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run,” she said. “In making this decision, we’ve complied and will continue to comply with all applicable federal and provincial laws.”

Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet said that employees have a right to organize based in the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec Labour Code.

“We have to recognize that the employees had the right to organize,” he said. “The decision that was taken by this company which is completely private is very sad and upsetting for the employees.”

Boulet said a committee was set up to accompany the employees to be reoriented.

The union will also hold a demonstration against Amazon on Feb. 15.

“A company that flouts our laws shouldn’t be allowed to do business here, let alone receive public contracts,” said Senneville.

“Many local businesses have been hard hit by the upheaval in the retail sector caused by Amazon’s arrival in Quebec. Now more than 4,500 people have lost their jobs. It’s time to take a stand against Amazon’s repeated offences and support our own businesses. Let’s stop buying from Amazon and start buying locally instead.”

The CSN is also calling on its affiliated unions to check to see if their employers have Amazon contracts and urge them to cancel those contracts.

“I’ve been hearing the contention of the union and I have the utmost respect for the union in that case and for the employees that have been affected by this massive layoff,” said Boulet.