Amazon starts closing Quebec warehouses as union president calls for boycott

The union that represents workers at what was Canada’s only unionized Amazon warehouse says the online retail giant has begun shutting down its seven facilities in Quebec this week, putting thousands of employees out of work.

Félix Trudeau, union president for the Laval, Que., warehouse that unionized last May, says the three warehouses in the Montreal area, including his own, were closed late Friday night, one day earlier than expected.

He says some workers showed up to their shifts last night only to find out the warehouses shuttered while a fourth warehouse that was expected to close in March closed earlier this week.

The company is cutting some 1,700 permanent jobs, but Quebec labour group Confédération des syndicats nationaux says the number of total layoffs rises to about 4,500 when workers employed by subcontractors are factored in.

Trudeau has accused the e-commerce goliath of closing its warehouses in the province to punish employees at his facility for unionizing last May, and he is calling on all levels of government to boycott the company until it reopens its facilities or agrees to pay all its laid-off employees one year’s salary with benefits.

Amazon has not responded to requests for comment but has previously dismissed claims that the layoffs are linked to a recent unionization push in the province.