---
title: "Amazon exits Quebec operations, to cut about 1,700 jobs"
description: "Amazon is shutting down its operations in Quebec, resulting in approximately 1,700 job losses, including 250 seasonal positions. The company will phase out activities at seven sites, reverting to a third-party delivery model reminiscent of its pre-2020 strategy. The closure targets Amazon's only unionized warehouse in Canada, raising concerns of an anti-union campaign, according to the CSN union. Affected employees will receive severance packages and transitional benefits as negotiations for their first collective agreement were underway."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "AMAZON TO CUT JOBS"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-22-amazon-exits-quebec-operations-to-cut-about-1700-jobs/"
published: "2025-01-22T22:53:23"
updated: "2025-01-22T22:53:25"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 280
---

# Amazon exits Quebec operations, to cut about 1,700 jobs

> Amazon exits Quebec operations, to cut about 1,700 jobs

By Reuters · Published 23 January 2025, 00:53 SAST · Updated 23 January 2025, 00:53 SAST

## Key points
- In a move that has union leaders crying foul, Amazon is packing its bags and leaving Quebec, taking 1,700 jobs with it and opting for a third-party delivery model—because who needs unionized workers when you can just outsource the problem?
- Amazon is shutting down its operations in Quebec, resulting in approximately 1,700 job losses, including 250 seasonal positions.
- The company will phase out activities at seven sites, reverting to a third-party delivery model reminiscent of its pre-2020 strategy.
- The closure targets Amazon's only unionized warehouse in Canada, raising concerns of an anti-union campaign, according to the CSN union.
- Affected employees will receive severance packages and transitional benefits as negotiations for their first collective agreement were underway.

## Content

E-commerce giant Amazon.com is exiting its operations in Quebec, leading to the loss of about 1,700 full-time jobs, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The online retailer will phase out operations across seven sites in the province — the only location in Canada with unionized Amazon employees — over the next two months.

It will return to a third-party delivery model, relying on local small businesses, similar to its approach before 2020.

"Following a recent review of our Quebec operations, we've seen that returning to a third-party delivery model ... will allow us to provide even more savings to our customers," Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said.

The move will also affect approximately 250 seasonal workers. Amazon will offer affected employees a package including up to 14 weeks’ pay and “transitional benefits such as job placement resources,” Agrait added.

In May, Amazon warehouse workers represented by the Canadian labor union Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) unionized, citing dissatisfaction with wages and inadequate health and safety measures at the facilities.

The CSN, which represents 300 workers at the site north of Montreal, said in a statement on Wednesday that Amazon’s decision made no business sense and directly targets the company’s only unionized warehouse in Canada.

The workers were in the process of negotiating their first collective agreement.

“There is no doubt that the closings announced today are part of an anti-union campaign against CSN and Amazon employees,” said CSN president Caroline Senneville in a French-language statement.

“This move contradicts the provisions of the Quebec Labour Code, which we will strongly oppose,” Senneville added, without providing immediate specifics.

Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Tasim Zahid