Amazon to Close All Warehouses in Quebec
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Amazon.com Inc. will shut down all warehouses and lay off employees in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec. The decision comes less than a year after workers at one of those facilities unionized.
The online retailer plans to use subcontractors, such as Montreal-based Intelcom Courrier Canada Inc., in the province instead.
Amazon.com Inc. ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics carriers in North America, No. 12 on the TT100 list of the largest private carriers and No. 1 on the Top 50 Global Freight list.
“Following a recent review of our Quebec operations, we’ve seen that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service,” said Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait in an emailed statement.
#BREAKING: Amazon is ceasing operations in Quebec https://t.co/NDNOxyfY2s — CTV News (@CTVNews) January 22, 2025
Amazon will close its seven Quebec sites and terminate about 1,900 permanent and temporary workers in the coming weeks.
“Quebec’s sole specificity lies in the presence of an officially certified union, the only one in Canada,” the Federation of National Trade Unions said in a news release. The Quebec union had been negotiating with Amazon since July to create a collective agreement for 300 employees at a warehouse in Laval, a suburb of Montreal.
“There is no doubt that the closures announced today are part of an anti-union campaign,” the union’s president, Caroline Senneville, said in the statement. “It’s totally unacceptable.”
Amazon said its announcement was unrelated to the unionization effort. The company, which had more than 1.5 million employees at the end of 2023, added it has no plans to close warehouses elsewhere.
“This decision wasn’t made lightly, and we’re offering impacted employees a package that includes up to 14 weeks’ pay after facilities close and transitional benefits, like job placement resources,” Agrait said.
Radio-Canada was first to report the news.
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