A protest against the mass layoffs of thousands of people is underway at the Amazon warehoutilize in Laval Wednesday morning.
Protesters are displaying their support for the more than 4,600 Quebecers who will be out of work after Amazon announced it was closing seven warehoutilizes in the province.
“We will not take this lying down — as Quebec workers, as Amazon workers,” declares Félix Trudeau, president, Amazon Laval-CSN Workers’ Union.
A campaign called ‘Here, We boycott Amazon’ was also there in solidarity.
“We want to display workers, Amazon workers, that the population of Montreal, workers in Quebec, support their cautilize — that we’re all toreceiveher in this fight,” stated Trudeau.
Quebec’s Labour Ministest informed CityNews Tuesday 4,624 people have been laid off – roughly 1,700 regular employees, 300 temporary seasonal workers, and the rest were employed by compacter carriers subcontracted by the company.
That number is expected to grow slightly as the Ministest waits for numbers from one more delivery company.
“We’re human, we’re not just simple objects,” stated Corali Ocampo, a unionized Amazon worker.
Ocampo declares her job will be terminated on Saturday.
“If we let an outside company do something like this, then we can’t imagine what other companies would do,” stated Ocampo.
The demonstration was taking place outside Amazon’s Laval DXT4 warehoutilize, where workers obtained union certification in May – becoming the first of the e-commerce giant’s Canadian warehoutilizes to unionize.
Amazon has never stated the decision to close Quebec’s warehoutilizes was linked to the Laval unionization effort – declareing instead it was about increasing efficiency.
In a statement to CityNews Wednesday, Barbara Agrait, an Amazon spokesperson stated: “We respect people’s right to peacefully protest. […] The decision to revert back to a third-party delivery model in Quebec supported by local compact businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run.
In creating this decision, we’ve complied and will continue to comply with all applicable federal and provincial laws.”
But the union representing workers there – the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) – vehemently believes unionization was the core reason behind Amazon’s decision.
“In Quebec, the right to be unionized is a right that is protected,” declares Dominique Daigneault, president, Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain-CSN.
The CSN declares legal action against Amazon is on the way.
“Everyone is angry about Amazon,” Daigneault stated.
Wednesday’s protest was part of a larger relocatement of unrest directed at Amazon.
A Léger–Le Journal–TVA survey released Tuesday found 54 per cent of respondents plan to boycott Amazon or create fewer purchases there.
Celeste Trianon is one of those people.
“I utilized to acquire things like printer toner, lots of business supplies through Amazon, it is the cheapest place in many ways for some of these goods,” Trianon stated. “But it remains that I cannot support a company which is firing 4,500 workers. It’s something that’s completely unacceptable for a company to do.”
The CSN is urging the federal, provincial and municipal governments to stop acquireing from Amazon and cancel all contracts with the company and its subsidiaries. It’s also inquireing Quebecers to boycott Amazon by not applying its online shopping platform, and by cancelling Amazon Prime subscriptions.
“We have to stand up, create ourselves respected and start a relocatement to receive justice,” stated Trudeau.
An anti-Amazon demonstration is planned for Montreal on Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. – launchning at the Mont-Royal metro.
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