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Amazon challenging certification of union for workers at its Laval, Que., warehouse

Click to play video: 'Quebec’s labour tribunal gives green light to Amazon union'
Quebec’s labour tribunal gives green light to Amazon union
Related: Quebec's labour tribunal says workers at an Amazon warehouse north of Montreal can go ahead and form a union. As Global's Felicia Parrillo reports, the company plans to appeal the accreditation – May 13, 2024

Online retailer Amazon is challenging the certification of a union representing about 200 employees at a Montreal-area warehouse.

The American company says the process by which employees unionized was unlawful because it involved workers signing union cards instead of voting in a secret ballot.

Amazon lawyer Frédéric Massé told a Quebec labour tribunal Friday that the absence of a secret ballot violated workers’ right to freedom of association.

The company has also filed for the union’s certification to be revoked entirely.

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Amazon’s applications have not been debated yet on their merits, and the hearing involved whether the company was an interested party in some of the matters it is bringing before the tribunal.

For example, Amélie Bellerose, a lawyer for the Quebec government, argued that it was the employees or their union, not the employer, who could contest whether the workers’ rights were violated.

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Administrative judge Irène Zaïkoff took the case under advisement, saying she would deliver a decision as soon as possible.

Click to play video: 'Union files application to represent workers at Amazon facility in Quebec'
Union files application to represent workers at Amazon facility in Quebec

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