Amazon closing all Quebec warehouses, cutting jobs

Amazon's Laval warehouse. (LA PRESSE CANADIENNE/Ryan Remiorz)

Online retail giant Amazon is closing all its warehouses in Quebec, a spokesperson confirmed to CTV News.

The company says it will cease operations over the next two months in seven operation sites, one fulfillment centre, two sorting centres, three delivery stations and one AMXL (extra large) delivery station that is co-located with a sorting centre.

Barbara Agrait, a spokesperson with Amazon, denies that the decision was made following the unionization of 200 employees last spring at Amazon’s DXT4 warehouse in Laval, Que.

• Here’s where Amazon is shuttering warehouses in Quebec

In total, 1,700 regular employees in Quebec and 250 temporary-seasonal workers will be affected.

“[The seasonal workers will be] compensated until the last day of their contracts,” she said.

Agrait notes the impacted employees are set to receive packages including up to 14 weeks of pay once facilities close, as well as transitional benefits, “like job placement resources.”

Surprised, sad, outrageous

“I was surprised. I did hear the news that something was going on in Laval but I wasn’t sure they were going to shut down the whole operation,” said Hardeep Saini, an Amazon employee who’s been working for the company since November.

“They just told us that Amazon decided to close the warehouses in Quebec,” added Felhath Idir, who says he’ll now have to find a way to support his family, who arrived in the province a year ago.

“It’s bad news. It’s sad. I don’t know what’s happening but I hope that they’ll fix the problem. It’s sad,” said Aghiles Hemadi, who says he doesn’t want to go on employment insurance.

Amazon says it plans to return to its third-party model, “supported by small local businesses.”

“This is something we already had in Quebec, we had it in place until 2020,” said Agrait. “We believe it’s going to allow us to provide the same great business to our customers.”

In an interview with CTV News, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) President Caroline Senneville called the announcement “outrageous.”

“Thousands of workers will be laid off in warehouses and different delivery centres,” she said. “But also, people that do the deliveries and drive the trucks will be laid off.”

She called Amazon “anti-union” and said the decision was “not a surprise.”

“My message to Amazon is always the same, if our money here in Canada is good enough for you, then our labour laws should be enough for you too,” said Senneville. “I can assure that our legal department is looking into this and seeing what can be done. Will they really be subcontracting? We will look into that. And of course, we will be there for the workers and to have their rights preserve.”

“Private decision by a private company”

Premier Francois Legault was asked about the decision and said the decision was regrettable, but that there is little he can do when a private company makes such a decision.

“I’m sad and I can understand that it must be tough for the 1,700 families involved with these decisions,” said Legault. “Amazon is a private company so why do they do that, how do they do that… the answer must be asked to Amazon. I’m not managing Amazon. It’s a private decision by a private company.”

When asked about the closures, Quebec Employment Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain said Wednesday she heard the news from the media.

“It’s a decision from Amazon, it’s a reorganization decision,” she said. “We’ll be there for the employees, that’s what we do in the employment ministry, help workers find other work.”

Treasury Board President Sonia Lebel also commented on the sale.

“What we have been putting forward last autumn at the end of 2024 is we asked everybody to be very sensitive and to prioritize buying Quebec to make sure the state has to be exemplary,” said Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel when asked about Amazon. “That’s the message that we sent.”