Union drive in full swing at Amazon warehouse in Montreal
A unionization marketing campaign is underway at an Amazon warehouse in Montreal as one in all North America’s largest employers stares down extra labour drives — with just one profitable up to now.
The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) says staff reached out to the union federation earlier this 12 months and launched an organizing drive on web site final month over well being and questions of safety in addition to wage, which hovers round $17 or $18 per hour. Unionized staff in comparable roles usually make $25 to $30 an hour, it stated.
If greater than 50 per cent of the 250 to 300 workers on the warehouse signal a membership card, the Quebec Labour Relations Fee can certify the union.
CSN vice-president David Bergeron-Cyr says office well being and security is a key purpose behind the push.
“It is like a jungle in there, lots of people are getting injured,” he stated in a telephone interview.
“Most of them are first-generation immigrants and they do not know their rights and do not communicate French. They do not go to the CNESST — our well being and security fee — to receives a commission.”
Some workers are anticipated to elevate as much as 400 containers an hour, leading to unreported accidents and lack of compensation for time in restoration, Bergeron-Cyr stated.
Amazon Canada spokeswoman Ryma Boussoufa stated the Seattle-based e-commerce big would not “assume unions are the perfect reply” for workers however that the selection lies of their palms.
“Our focus stays on working straight with our workforce to proceed making Amazon an ideal place to work,” she stated in an electronic mail.
The unionization effort comes as organizers look to carry a vote on certification at a 7,000-employee Amazon packaging facility in Nisku, Alta.
Teamsters Native Union 362 stated final week it had filed a second time for a unionization vote on the facility south of Edmonton.
The applying should be licensed by the Alberta Labour Relations Board earlier than a vote can happen.
Teamsters Canada tried to type a union on the Nisku Amazon web site final fall, however was unable to get the proposed vote licensed after the labour relations board concluded it had failed to succeed in the required threshold of signed union playing cards.
The parallel Canadian campaigns additionally come as organizers wrestle south of the border to construct on their single profitable union bid at a New York Metropolis warehouse final month.
Amazon staff at a second Staten Island location overwhelmingly rejected a union bid on Monday, dealing a blow to organizers who final month pulled off the primary profitable U.S. organizing effort within the tech firm’s historical past.
For the fledgling Amazon Labor Union, Monday’s defeat will certainly sting. A second labour win was anticipated to gas extra organizing at america’s second largest non-public employer — after Walmart — and cement the ability and affect of the ALU.
