It’s been over five months since the workers at the DXT4 Amazon delivery station in Laval, Quebec officially certified their union after 2 years of organizing. The victory brought 200 people into the union, The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), becoming the first in Canada and only the second certification in North America, after the JFK8 victory in Staten Island in 2022. For Amazon workers in Canada, this is an exciting first step.
Amazon Worker Solidarity applauds the efforts of the workers and organizers in Laval. At a time when Amazon seems too big and powerful an enemy, and when organizing feels like an uphill battle, they remind us to remain steadfast, because no corporation is invincible.
However, as anticipated, this important victory did not come without challenge by the company, who fought at every stage to contest the certification. When the Quebec Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT) officially accredited the union on May 10, Amazon filed a motion to not only revoke the union certification but announced it was filing a constitutional challenge to the Quebec labour code. The laws that enabled the victory through the process of card check, where a majority of workers sign union cards to certify the union, were denounced as “undemocratic”. Amazon complained that any union certification process other than a secret ballot vote was unacceptable.
But the truth is, to Amazon, any threat of unionization is unacceptable. The situation in Laval illustrates Amazon’s willingness to go to all lengths to avoid unionization, including by dragging workers and the union through countless painful legal processes to avoid it. In a world where Amazon is used to having the deck stacked in their favour by politicians and lawmakers, their propensity for taking legal action shows they would rather change the existing rules to their benefit than play by them. Beyond putting down the Laval union, these intimidating legal tactics aim to scare workers elsewhere and prevent them from fighting for their dignity and rights as well.
More than challenging just one union, Amazon is coming after our rights themselves, dragging their issues with our labour laws all the way to the Supreme Court, and with them dragging all of Canadian society – because any challenge to labour protections that benefits Amazon will benefit all corporations. Thus, Amazon declares a new battlefront in their war against workers, a war in which all Canadians are implicated. In the same way that Amazon vies for control of society through the expansion of its logistics empire and cloud computing platform, it vies for control on the level of laws and policy, attempting to make an optimal environment for itself to generate profit, all at our expense.
In this way, Amazon presents an existential threat to the entire Canadian working class, not just its own workers, through its union-busting tactics. Labour laws that were fought for and won by Canadian workers, and that attempt to restrain corporate power in the most meager ways are not safe – any of these rights can be taken away. The labour movement in Canada must rise to the challenge of a corporation like Amazon if it hopes to survive, as Amazon relentlessly attacks the foundation the movement stands on. If labour develops the courage to seriously confront a beast like Amazon, it will surely find its feet again.
Despite what is at stake and despite the scale of the fight ahead of us, Amazon workers have been and will continue to step up to the challenge. Throughout the United States, momentum is building within the Amazon movement daily, with the Teamsters leading efforts to organize Amazon drivers and, increasingly, warehouse workers. Building off of many years of independent organizing efforts, they are taking the fight against Amazon to the next level. In fact, Amazon workers attribute their recent $1.50 across-the-board raise (though meager and insufficient) to the uptick in organizing across the US and the world.
Canadian Amazon workers are following suit, and we are proud of the workers in Laval for paving the way. Together, we must build a strong Amazon movement in Canada, involving workers from Quebec, Ontario and all other corners of the country. This way, our fellow workers in Laval won’t be standing alone. Amazon Worker Solidarity supports the proliferation of worker organization across Canada, and places importance on organizing Amazon in the Greater Toronto Area, given the strategic importance of Ontario facilities in the network. Organizing one facility is not enough to win against Amazon, and more work is needed.
In the face of major challenges, Laval Amazon workers’ resolve has been strengthened by the company’s response to them. In fact, they wear Amazon’s legal action against their union as a badge of honour. To stand up against an enemy and be met with a challenge means you are doing something right, and only increases workers’ determination to fight back.
In the end, the only antidote to Amazon’s seemingly unlimited corporate power is the thing that enables it in the first place, and the one thing that workers have – their own labour power. By organizing and building up the capacity to disrupt production, Amazon workers can finally fight back. Through constant experimentation, fearlessness and the practice of steadfastness, Amazon workers are unlocking their own power.
For more information on the Montreal Amazon Workers Union, check out their website: https://sesyndiquer.org/mawu/english/
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