Amazon faces tribunal over closure of Quebec warehouses

The Administrative Labour Tribunal is hearing a case into Amazon’s closure of seven Quebec warehouses earlier this year, following a complaint from the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) that accuses the company of trying to sidestep its obligations under the province’s Labour Code.

In a filing on Feb. 20, the CSN described the closures as a “massive subterfuge” aimed at eliminating union activity. “Amazon isn’t ceasing its online sales activities in Québec. It is reorganizing its operations to escape its obligations as an employer under the Labour Code,” the complaint states.

The case will open with testimony from Jasmin Begagic, president of Amazon Canada Fulfillment Services. He is expected to argue that the closures were a business decision unrelated to unionization efforts at the company’s Laval warehouse and other facilities.

“We believe it is clear that the main purpose of the closing of Amazon’s warehouses in Québec was to shut down the organizing effort and avoid signing its first collective agreement in North America,” said CSN president Caroline Senneville.

The union is asking the tribunal to overturn the closures, order Amazon to resume operations at the affected warehouses and award employees more than a year’s salary plus damages.

Amazon announced the closures Jan. 22, less than a year after workers at the DXT4 warehouse in Laval unionized. The tribunal has previously found the company guilty of anti-union interference at another Montreal-area warehouse.