Amazon warehouse employees in Quebec are calling on the federal government to finish their relationship with the e-commerce big and put in place legal guidelines to guard employees in opposition to the violation of labour rights by closures.
Amazon introduced Wednesday it will shut all warehouses in Quebec, which eliminates greater than 1,900 everlasting and non permanent jobs. Labour leaders and employees have been fast to voice their outrage. The one unionized Amazon warehouse in Canada is situated in Quebec.
: Union says Amazon closures in Quebec are an assault on unionization
Employees held an meeting on Sunday night time on the Immigrant Employees Centre (IWC) in Montreal. Mostafa Henaway, an organizer with the IWC, shared the principle calls for of employees in a Fb put up. Employees need an finish to the connection between Amazon and the federal government and a reversal of the company’s resolution. If Amazon doesn’t change its closure plans, employees are demanding one yr of compensation, together with all advantages. The present severance supply from Amazon is 14 weeks of pay.
Federal Minister of Public Providers and Procurement, Jean-Yves Duclos, mentioned on Friday that Amazon has agreed to talk with authorities officers in regards to the closures. Lately, Amazon’s net providers and supply and logistics models have sought partnerships with Canadian companies and the federal government. In a letter to Amazon, Duclos mentioned the current resolution is inconsistent with Amazon’s aim of being a strategic accomplice within the nation’s industrial economic system.
“We are a good partner with that company and many others in Canada, but we also expect those partners to work appropriately with workers,” Duclos informed reporters on Friday. “It is not acceptable to punish workers because they become unionized. In Canada, the right to become unionized is a right that is fundamental.”
The announcement of the closures got here as a shock to many. Felix Trudeau, an Amazon employee and union native president, mentioned a bargaining session was scheduled for the exact same day the announcement was made.
Whereas Duclos’ response reveals his targets could align with one of many calls for from Amazon employees, Henaway and Felix Trudeau mentioned justice for employees can solely come from the organizing of employees themselves.
“The labour movement needs the courage to stand up to those tactics, adapt to this situation and take stock of how blatantly these multinationals are disrespecting the law and disrespecting their workers,” Trudeau mentioned in an interview with rabble.ca.
Henaway mentioned the IWC has been working carefully with Amazon employees who haven’t but had an opportunity to unionize. He mentioned many of those employees are apprehensive about how they are going to discover one other job however many will not be stunned. This anti-worker angle has been constructing for years, Henaway mentioned.
“Our governments are really endorsing this, we subsidize Amazon,” he mentioned. “They haven’t really held Amazon to account prior to this in terms of the way they treated workers and the work conditions. When we demanded an inquiry, there was very little support.”
Trudeau mentioned current information could also be demoralizing for employees, however it’s not a brand new phenomenon for corporations to give you varied anti-union methods.
“For the working class, the answer to those obstacles remains organization and solidarity,” he mentioned. “It’s not a matter of reinventing the wheel. It’s just a matter of adapting, unions and the labor movement to the current conditions.”
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