Amazon on Wednesday mentioned it was closing all of its warehouse and logistics operations in Quebec, the Canadian province the place unions gained a foothold in considered one of its services, and would lay off 1,700 workers.
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 yr. It additionally had a small achievement middle in Quebec and two warehouses that sorted packages.
All instructed, the investments totaled about 2 million sq. toes of operations, in keeping with an estimate by Marc Wulfraat, a warehousing trade marketing consultant based mostly in Montreal who has long researched Amazon’s logistics network.
Amazon mentioned it’s closing the seven services to “present the identical nice service and much more financial savings to our prospects over the long term,” in keeping with an announcement from Barbara Agrait, an organization spokeswoman. The corporate wouldn’t say if unionization was an element.
Amazon will nonetheless serve prospects in Quebec by returning to its operational mannequin from earlier than 2020, when services in neighboring provinces ready the packages that had been then carried by third-party supply firms into Quebec.
Amazon’s first union in Canada comprised about 230 warehouse employees in Laval, north of Montreal, after they unionized in Might. However the firm challenged the unionization effort earlier than a provincial labor tribunal. It argued that the union certification needs to be revoked as a result of the employees signed union playing cards to sign their assist, as an alternative of voting by secret poll. The tribunal dominated in opposition to Amazon in October, simply earlier than the height vacation buying season.
Amazon mentioned litigation over the matter was persevering with.
With the Quebec closures, “they made it very clear we are not looking for this spreading,” Mr. Wulfraat mentioned, referring to the union effort. The corporate has greater than 46,000 company and operations workers in Canada.
François-Philippe Champagne, the federal innovation minister, mentioned in a post on X that he had conveyed his disappointment to the pinnacle of Amazon in Canada.
“This isn’t the way in which enterprise is completed in Canada,” he mentioned.
The Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux, a union representing the employees, mentioned it was knowledgeable of the closures by way of an e mail from considered one of Amazon’s attorneys early this morning. Caroline Senneville, the confederation’s president, mentioned in an announcement 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 mentioned.
The Montreal metropolitan space has roughly 4.5 million residents, making it bigger than the higher Seattle area. Pulling operations out of a serious inhabitants middle is opposite to what Amazon has touted in recent times as a central driver of success inside its operations: placing extra merchandise nearer to prospects, to allow quicker supply. That, Amazon has repeatedly mentioned, drives down supply prices, and causes prospects to order extra steadily.
Amazon has not deserted direct operations from a big inhabitants middle 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 prior to now have had problem 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 occasions as excessive as in the USA.
François Legault, the premier of Quebec, mentioned Amazon’s transfer was “a personal resolution by a personal firm.”
“I can perceive that it should be powerful for the 1,7000 households concerned,” Mr. Legault instructed 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, mentioned employees affected by the warehouse shutdowns would obtain help from the federal government to search out new jobs.
