The hashtag boycott Amazon is trending in Canada after the company announced it’s ceasing operations of its Quebec warehouses.
The global e-commerce conglomerate is shuttering its warehouse facilities in Quebec over the course of the next few months, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Now Toronto in a phone interview on Wednesday, adding that the move will only affect Quebec.
Amazon’s Montreal offices will not be impacted and the delivery service will remain available in the province, nonetheless the closures will lead to the loss of some 1,700 jobs, Amazon confirmed.
Laid off employees will be offered up to 14 weeks of pay and transitional benefits, the spokesperson added.
Quebec is home to Amazon’s only unionized workforce in Canada. Employees in Laval, QC unionized last year over wages and workplace conditions.
News of the closures has sparked discussion across social media, with some speculating that Amazon’s decision could be a response to union action.
“#boycottamazon for life and stop financially supporting this business! Not only do they treat their workers terribly, they encourage you to buy stuff you don’t even need,” one X user wrote
“Another reason why shopping local is more important than ever,” another person said.
“The time to boycott Amazon is long overdue, but this clinches it. Jeff Bezos doesn’t need any more of our $$$, “ someone else wrote.
Amazon has not commented on whether the closures were connected to union demands.
According to the company, the decision to shut down its warehouses was taken so Amazon can return to its third-party delivery structure that it operated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Following a recent review of our Quebec operations, we’ve seen that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run,” Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait told Now in an email statement on Wednesday.
The news comes in the wake of further criticism of the tech-giant after it removed and altered parts of its DEI policy from its website.
According to reports by the BBC, Amazon said in an internal announcement earlier this month that it remained “dedicated to delivering inclusive experiences” but was altering its approach to focus on programs with “proven outcomes”.
“As part of this evolution, we’ve been winding down outdated programs and materials, and we’re aiming to complete that by the end of 2024,” Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s VP of inclusive experiences and technology, wrote in the December note to staff, which was first reported by Bloomberg,” the BBC says.
Amazon told Now Toronto that it updates its Positions page from time to time to ensure that it reflects updates made to various programs and positions.
