Unions had gained a foothold in one of the company’s warehouses in the province, though Amazon would not say if there was a connection.
Amazon on Wednesday said it was closing all of its warehouse and logistics operations in Quebec, the Canadian province where unions gained a foothold in one of its facilities, and would lay off 1,700 employees.
The closures represent a U-turn from Amazon’s recent investments in the province. The company opened three delivery stations in 2021, and one last year. It also had a small fulfillment center in Quebec and two warehouses that sorted packages.
All told, the investments totaled about 2 million square feet of operations, according to an estimate by Marc Wulfraat, a warehousing industry consultant based in Montreal who has long researched Amazon’s logistics network.
Amazon said it is closing the seven facilities to “provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run,” according to a statement from Barbara Agrait, a company spokeswoman. The company would not say if unionization was a factor.
Amazon will still serve customers in Quebec by returning to its operational model from before 2020, when facilities in neighboring provinces prepared the packages that were then carried by third-party delivery companies into Quebec.
Amazon’s first union in Canada comprised about 230 warehouse workers in Laval, north of Montreal, after they unionized in May. But the company challenged the unionization effort before a provincial labor tribunal. It argued that the union certification should be revoked because the workers signed union cards to signal their support, instead of voting by secret ballot. The tribunal ruled against Amazon in October, just before the peak holiday shopping season.