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 one in every of its services, and would lay off 1,700 workers.
The closures characterize a U-turn from Amazon’s latest investments within the province. The corporate opened three supply stations in 2021, and one final 12 months. It additionally had a small achievement middle in Quebec and two warehouses that sorted packages.
All advised, the investments totaled about 2 million sq. ft of operations, in accordance with an estimate by Marc Wulfraat, a warehousing trade marketing consultant primarily based 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 accordance with a press release 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 have 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 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 an alternative of voting by secret poll. The tribunal dominated towards Amazon in October, simply earlier than the height vacation purchasing 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 finished 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 electronic mail from one in every of Amazon’s legal professionals early this morning. Caroline Senneville, the confederation’s president, mentioned 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 mentioned.
The Montreal metropolitan space has roughly 4.5 million residents, making it bigger than the better Seattle area. Pulling operations out of a significant 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 sooner supply. That, Amazon has repeatedly mentioned, drives down supply prices, and causes prospects to order extra often.
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 up 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 best fee amongst Canadian provinces, in accordance with government data, and about 4 instances as excessive as in america.
François Legault, the premier of Quebec, mentioned Amazon’s transfer was “a non-public determination by a non-public firm.”
“I can perceive that it should be powerful for the 1,7000 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, mentioned employees affected by the warehouse shutdowns would obtain help from the federal government to seek out new jobs.
