Protesters accusing Amazon of union-busting gathered in downtown Montreal today to continue their calls for a boycott of the company after it decided to shutter its Quebec warehouses in the province in January.
Félix Trudeau, union president for the Laval, Que., Amazon warehouse that unionized last May, was one about 50 protesters at Montreal’s Phillips Square when a Canadian Press reporter visited the scene, although videos of the protest posted to social media later in the day shows a crowd of more than 100 people.
Earlier this week he shared the stage with New Democrat MP Charlie Angus in Ottawa, who echoed calls for a countrywide boycott and employee demands for better severance.
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Trudeau says he wants to remind Canadians that several thousand workers have been laid-off for what he says was an “unpreceded move … to crush a democratic workers movement.” He’ s urging the different levels of government to stop using Amazon services.
Benoit Dumais, a former Quebec Amazon employee who says he stopped working at the company because of injury he sustained on the job, wants Quebec’s labour minister to sit down with laid-off workers to discuss how they can pursue Amazon for indemnities and services he says Amazon has a duty to provide.
In February, a Quebec labour group filed a complaint to force the retailer to resume its operations and pay each employee more than a year’s salary in compensation
Amazon has dismissed accusations of union-busting, saying its decision to close the warehouses was based on delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers.
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