Around thirty Amazon employees who worked at the DXT4 distribution center in Laval were let go after the holidays.
At least that’s what the union representing these workers said in a statement Tuesday morning, deploring “disguised dismissals.” These layoffs have been effective since January 4, it was specified to the QMI Agency.
“Amazon treats its employees like disposable labor. Like amenities that we dispose of after use, rather than human beings who have families to support them. Amazon is dismissing them without any justification and without them being entitled to a call back to work in the coming weeks,” declared the president of the CSN, Caroline Senneville.
This is the second wave of layoffs at the DXT4 warehouse since its 300 employees were unionized last May. The union is planning “a public outcry” later today to denounce these layoffs.
Remember that on April 19, the CSN filed a request with the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT) to represent the 230 employees of Amazon’s DXT4 warehouse in Laval.
On May 10, the TAT officially accredited the union, recognizing that a majority of employees had joined. Negotiations to establish a first collective agreement began in July and have still not been completed.
False allegation
In an email sent to the QMI Agency, Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said that “this allegation is false” and that the CSN “acts in a willfully misleading manner.”
“These people were hired as seasonal employees whose contracts stipulated clear end dates. We are grateful to them for all the work they have done to serve our customers this holiday season,” she wrote.
According to the union, however, some of the employees who were laid off had been hired by Amazon more than six months ago.
