Amazon, worker union before Quebec labour tribunal over warehouse closures

A Quebec labour tribunal has begun hearing a case against Amazon over the e-commerce giant’s closure in January of seven warehouses in the province.

Some 1,700 employees lost their jobs following Amazon’s sudden termination of its Quebec warehouse operations months after workers at a Montreal-area facility unionized with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux.

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In a news release, the CSN union says it is asking the tribunal to overturn Amazon’s decision to close the seven centres and force the company to pay all 1,700 workers one year’s salary.

The CSN says Amazon has asked the tribunal to exclude the six non-unionized warehouses and limit the scope of the hearing to 287 unionized workers at the facility in Laval, Que.

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but has said its closures were about delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers, not a response to the union drive.

A spokesman for the union says the hearings are scheduled to take place intermittently over the next few months.