** For immediate distribution **
Montreal, Monday, January 27th, 2025, 9:00 a.m.
Co-signers:
- Amazon Laval Workers’ Union / Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses d’Amazon Laval (STTAL-CSN)
- Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) / Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (CTI)
- Workers’ Alliance (WA) / Alliance Ouvrière (AO)
- “Here, We Boycott Amazon” Movement / Mouvement « Ici, on boycotte Amazon »
On Sunday, January 26, 2025, a large number of Amazon workers from Quebec gathered at the Immigrant Workers Center (IWC) to discuss their situation. Together with the Amazon Workers Union of Laval (Syndicat des travailleurs d'Amazon Laval, STTAL-CSN), they developed the following reflections and decided to support the boycott campaign against Amazon. The workers will express their views in greater detail in a subsequent open letter.
In May 2024, workers at Laval's DXT4 warehouse formed the first Amazon union in Canada. To counter the union's development, the multinational used several illegal strategies, for which it was condemned by the Administrative Labor Court in August 2024. Finally, on January 22, 2025, the company decided to close all its Quebec warehouses to cut short the unionization campaign. We vehemently denounce this anti-democratic decision, which aims to break workers' morale and oppose their fundamental rights, including freedom of association.
Faced with this attack by Amazon, which affects more than 3,000 workers threatened with redundancy in Quebec and jeopardizes the freedom of association of all, we think it's time to react. If we don't make it clear to Amazon and other industry giants that they can't treat us like disposable employees, we're sure to suffer serious setbacks to our working and social conditions. That's why Amazon workers have come together to support a campaign to boycott all the company's products and services, in Quebec, Canada and around the world.
Precisely, we call on all institutions, organizations and individuals concerned to:
- Close their Amazon account
- Close their Prime Video account
- Stop using Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Ask partners to join the Amazon boycott
In response to the layoffs, workers gathered at the Immigrant Workers Center (IWC) are demanding that our governments:
- Require Amazon to repay all subsidies received by all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal)
- Force Amazon to pay one year's salary and preserve benefits for all dismissed employees, as many of them will have no access to compensation or unemployment.
- Break their commercial ties with Amazon and all its channels
Right now, Amazon is at war with its own workers, with Canadian and Quebec laws, and with our fundamental rights. Its unilateral action is a threat to our model of living together and to the rights of all Quebec workers. It's through concerted and determined boycott action that we'll be able to bring Amazon to heel, and ensure that our rights are respected. Let's dare to fight and be respected!
We, Amazon workers, call for the solidarity of all those who believe that our rights are worth more than a company's profits. As citizens, we believe that freedom of association and workers' dignity are stronger than Amazon's arrogance. Together, we call for a boycott of all Amazon services until the company understands that workers cannot be trampled without consequences!
Total solidarity! United against Amazon, we will win!