Amazon to close Quebec warehouses, cut nearly 2,000 jobs

Online retail giant Amazon is pulling out of Canada's Quebec province, closing warehouses and other facilities -- including the first to be unionized in the country, the company said Wednesday.

Nearly 2,000 jobs will be affected.

The union representing 300 workers at a Laval, Quebec warehouse called the move "outrageous" and "a slap in the face" for workers, adding that it effectively derails negotiations on the first collective agreement with Amazon in Canada, started last July.

The company operates seven warehouses and other facilities in the province that ship goods locally and employ 1,700 regular staff and about 250 seasonal workers.

In a statement, Amazon said it had done a "recent review of (its) Quebec operations" and decided in a bid to reduce costs in the long term to return to "a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses."

This is "similar to what we had until 2020," it added.

That means products will be sourced and packaged at other Amazon facilities in Canada and shipped to a third party for delivery to customers in Quebec.

Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agrait told AFP the Quebec facility closures will take place over the next two months.

Seasonal workers will be paid to the end of their current contracts, while regular staff will receive 14 weeks of pay once facilities close and other benefits, she said.

The Central Labour Union (Confederation des syndicats nationaux) president Caroline Senneville vowed to fight the move.

"There is no doubt that the closures announced today are part of an anti-union campaign against the CSN and Amazon employees," she said in a statement.

The Quebec warehouse became the first and only Amazon facility in Canada to receive union certification, in May 2024.