a group Workers in Quebec formed the first union at one of the company’s warehouses in Canada. On Friday, the province’s labor tribunal granted union accreditation to workers at the DXT4 warehouse in the Montreal suburb of Laval. He found that the majority chose to join a union after signing their union cards.
A group of about 200 workers is organized as the Laval Amazon Workers Union under the Confédération des syndicats nationalaux (CSN), which represents about 330,000 people in various industries across Canada. In the near future, a general congress will be held to decide on the constitution, statutes and representatives. Union members will then be consulted to agree on a list of demands.
The union says Amazon must legally come to the bargaining table to strike a deal. However, he Amazon will appeal the labor tribunal’s decision after trying to block unionization efforts.
“First and foremost, this is a huge victory for the men and women from Latin America, Chad, the Maghreb and Asia who are not afraid to stand up for their rights,” said CSN President Caroline Senneville. . “Over the past few months, Amazon has pulled out all the stops to block our union campaign, flooding the workplace with threatening messages. DXT4 staff taught us all a lesson in courage. Of course, we hope that it will spread.”
In a letter sent to the labor tribunal on May 6, Amazon claimed that the accreditation “will not respect the interests of its employees”. The company claimed that some workers had been tricked into signing union cards and that some aspects of Quebec’s labor code violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We believe that all people should have the right to be informed and to vote according to their circumstances and beliefs,” Amazon spokeswoman Barbara M. Agrait said. . “If a simple majority of people at an employer are unionized at any given time, then there is no voting and representation is automatic for all employees, including perhaps dozens or hundreds of employees who don’t know they are counted.”
Amazon has long been accused of trying to do this In warehouses in the United States and . In 2022, workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York are the first in the company . But the Amazon Labor Union does not yet have a contract with Amazon and funds are running out ahead of leadership elections.
