Amazon newsletter – Spring 2025

Quebec closures

Canada – Amazon plans to close operations in Quebec – the only location in Canada with a unionised workforce

On January 22nd, Amazon announced plans to exit its operations in Quebec with immediate effect. The company plans to close all seven of its warehouses and move to a third-party warehouse model in Quebec – in contrast to the direct ownership model it prefers to use across its global operations. Amazon’s announcement to exit Quebec comes just as the company was due to face a binding arbitration process which would have compelled the company to agree to a first contract with the negotiating union. The decision also comes just five years after the company begun to expand its warehouse footprint in the province and less than a year after the first union was formed at a site in Laval. For more information about this story and to add your organisations support to an investor letter to the company, please contact Rachel.Hargreaves@ext-uni.org  

Amazon claimed the decision to exit Québec was motivated by a need for cost savings. However, the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), the union representing roughly 230 workers at the only unionised warehouse facility in Canada, have argued that the company’s decision is directly linked to its anti-union stance and reluctance to accept the formation of a union last year. The closures comes just as the union was due to request a binding arbitration process (a provision under Québec labour law) which would have compelled Amazon to agree a contract with the union. CSN have since filed a lawsuit against Amazon for failing to comply with national labour law, similar to the case brought against Walmart in 2014 which the company lost.

The closures will result in the loss of at least 1,700 jobs. Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry expressed frustration at the announcement. In a letter to Amazon’s CEO, the minster called for the company to reconsider its decision and stated that the Canadian Government would be reviewing its business relationships with Amazon.

Whole Foods

United States – Philadelphia Whole Foods Workers Vote Union

Workers at a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) on January 27, the first group to unionize at the chain since Amazon acquired it in 2017. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that 230 workers participated in the election and won with a 57% majority. Workers are seeking higher wages to cover the cost of living and want to address the deterioration of working conditions under Amazon’s ownership.

The victory at the flagship store in Center City Philadelphia comes despite months of relentless intimidation, misinformation, and anti-union tactics from Amazon and Whole Foods management.

Workers have reported issues regarding understaffing, time-off policies, and warehouse-style performance metrics which have worsened since Amazon acquired Whole Foods. The workers have also called for Whole Foods to extend a regional wage increase, which the company had previously said could not apply to the unionising store because of the union election. Whole Foods has already challenged the union vote, capitalising on the recent weakening of the NLRB by the Trump administration.

December strikes

United States – December five-day strike

The Teamsters union coordinated a five-day strike in the lead up to Christmas in an effort to bring Amazon to the negotiating table following the successful Staten Island vote in 2022. Protests were held outside facilities nationwide, while strike action took place at seven Amazon locations across the country. The Teamsters have indicated that almost a thousand workers participated in the strikes – the largest strike at the company in US history. The strikes also drew attention to the company’s treatment of delivery drivers which are hired through Amazon’s third-party companies and which Amazon claims it has no responsibility for. A recent NLRB ruling has deemed otherwise in a select number of cases.

The strikes were a last resort for the Teamsters union, who have been calling on the company to negotiate a contract since 2022, following the successful vote to form a union at a bargaining unit in Staten Island. In 2024, the Staten Island union – Amazon Labour Union (ALU) – voted to affiliate with the Teamsters union, which now represents roughly 10,000 Amazon workers in North America.

While Amazon has claimed the strikes did not cause any operational disruption, workers reported delivery delays in several locations. The Teamsters have indicated that further action may be necessary, particularly if the company continues to reject calls to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.

The strikes also drew attention to the company’s treatment of delivery drivers including low wages, unsustainable work quotas, and unsafe working conditions. Amazon takes no responsibility for the drivers claiming they work for third-party “Delivery Service Partners”. This is despite Amazon determining drivers pay and working conditions. In 2024, the NLRB issued a provisional joint-employer determination which classed Amazon as a joint employer of the delivery drivers in California. Prior to the 2024 Christmas strike, pockets of strike action by drivers had already emerged in California, Ohio and Illinois.

The December strikes were well publicised globally drawing further public attention to working conditions and the company’s union-busting activities – with Teamsters General President, Sean O’Brien, appearing across most major news media outlets.