First Amazon warehouse unionizing in Quebec

On Friday, April 19, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) filed an application with the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) to represent the 200 employees at Amazon's DXT4 warehouse in Laval, QC. It will be the first Amazon fulfillment centre in Quebec to unionize.

"After months of effort, Amazon employees succeeded in convincing their co-workers that they must stand together to win against the behemoth," says Caroline Senneville, president at CSN. "On Friday, we notified the ALT that a majority of employees at the DXT4 warehouse had signed union cards. We are asking the ALT to recognize their desire to form a union and we will be closely watching the multinational's actions in the coming days."

Over the past few weeks, employees have flocked to join the Laval Amazon Workers Union–CSN. Amazon workers cite many reasons for dissatisfaction with their working conditions including a frenetic pace of work, inadequate health and safety measures, and wages well below the norm at warehouses and fulfillment centres in Quebec.

Over the next few days, the ALT will contact management at Amazon's DXT4 warehouse to inform them that a certification application has been filed and to obtain a list of the company's employees, as provided for by the Quebec Labour Code. The list will enable the ALT to determine whether the union is representative – i.e., whether a 50 percent + one majority of employees have signed a union card. If it finds that this is the case, the ALT will then certify the union as the representative of all the employees covered by the application.