Amazon on Wednesday stated it was closing all of its warehouse and logistics operations in Quebec, the Canadian province the place unions gained a foothold in one in every of its services, and would lay off 1,700 staff.
The closures signify a U-turn from Amazon’s current investments within the province. The corporate opened three supply stations in 2021, and one final 12 months. It additionally had a small achievement heart in Quebec and two warehouses that sorted packages.
All advised, the investments totaled about 2 million sq. ft of operations, in keeping with an estimate by Marc Wulfraat, a warehousing business guide based mostly in Montreal who has long researched Amazon’s logistics network.
Amazon stated it’s closing the seven services to “present the identical nice service and much more financial savings to our clients over the long term,” in keeping with a press release from Barbara Agrait, an organization spokeswoman.
Amazon will nonetheless serve clients in Quebec by returning to its operational mannequin from earlier than 2020, when services in neighboring provinces ready the packages that have been then carried by third-party supply corporations into Quebec.
Amazon’s first union in Canada comprised about 230 warehouse employees in Laval, north of Montreal, after they unionized in Could. However the firm challenged the unionization effort earlier than a provincial labor tribunal. It argued that the union certification ought to be revoked as a result of the employees signed union playing cards to sign their help, as a substitute of voting by secret poll. The tribunal dominated in opposition to Amazon in October, simply earlier than the height vacation procuring season.
Amazon stated litigation over the matter was persevering with.
With the Quebec closures, “they made it very clear we don’t need this spreading,” Mr. Wulfraat stated, referring to the union effort. The corporate has greater than 46,000 company and operations staff in Canada.
François-Philippe Champagne, the federal innovation minister, stated in a post on X that he had conveyed his disappointment to the top of Amazon in Canada.
“This isn’t the way in which enterprise is finished in Canada,” he stated.
The Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux, a union representing the employees, stated it was knowledgeable of the closures by way of an electronic mail from one in every of Amazon’s attorneys early this morning. Caroline Senneville, the confederation’s president, stated in a press release that the corporate had been stifling their union drive because it started three years in the past, by way of actions that included what she known as “disguised dismissals.”
“It’s a slap within the face for all employees in Quebec,” she stated.
Amazon denied claims from the union that the dismissals have been improper.
The Montreal metropolitan space has roughly 4.5 million residents, making it bigger than the higher Seattle area. Pulling operations out of a significant inhabitants heart is opposite to what Amazon has touted in recent times as a central driver of success inside its operations: placing extra merchandise nearer to clients, to allow sooner supply. That, Amazon has repeatedly stated, drives down supply prices, and causes clients to order extra regularly.
Amazon has not deserted direct operations from a big inhabitants heart in North America in years, although greater than a dozen years in the past it routinely played hardball with states that attempted to gather taxes for on-line gross sales.
Walmart and different retailers previously have had issue establishing a logistics foothold in Quebec, the place roughly two out of each 5 employees are unionized. That’s the very best fee amongst Canadian provinces, in keeping with government data, and about 4 instances as excessive as in america.
François Legault, the premier of Quebec, stated Amazon’s transfer was “a personal choice by a personal firm.”
“I can perceive that it have to be robust for the 1,700 households concerned,” Mr. Legault advised reporters at a information convention on Wednesday, focusing most of his remarks on the necessity for Quebecers to mobilize and purchase native merchandise in response to President Trump’s tariff threat.
Jean Boulet, the province’s labor minister, stated employees affected by the warehouse shutdowns would obtain help from the federal government to seek out new jobs.
