MONTREAL- The Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) began organization of a unionization movement at a Montreal Amazon warehouse last month, after announcing it in early 2022. The campaign was launched as a response to rising concerns over health and safety conditions in Amazon plants.
If this movement to unionize the warehouse is successful, the company would see its second union in history.
Amazon warehouse employees typically get paid between $17 and $18 an hour, while union employees make anywhere from $25 to $30. However the union can only be certified by the Quebec Labor Relations Commission if half or more of the employees working at the facility agree to its development and sign a special membership card.
VP of CSN David Bergeron-Cyr stated over a phone interview with the Canadian Press: “It’s like a jungle in there, a lot of people are getting injured.” He claims that the largest reason behind the union is safety concerns.
“Most of them are first-generation immigrants and they don’t know their rights and don’t speak French. They don’t go to the CNESST — our health and safety commission — to get paid.”
Bergeron-Cyr claims some employees at the plant are required to lift some 400 boxes per hour, leading to injuries and 0 compensation for hospital or recovery time. However, Amazon Canada’s spokeswoman, Ryma Boussoufa, stated that “unions are[n’t] the best answer” for Amazon’s workplace issues.
This effort is one of many, with a second unionization vote soon to take place at a massive 7,000-person plant in Nisku, Alberta. However, their application for a vote can only go through if the Alberta Labor Relations Board certifies it.
In the United States union organizers struggled to gain votes after their application was rejected on Monday, a shocking failure after a successful vote in a different plant in April, the first in Amazon history.
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