The union for Amazon workers at a Delta warehouse says it’s undeterred by the company’s efforts to overturn unionization.
About 800 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Delta, BC, won the right to unionize at the BC Labour Relations Board in July after a long organizing campaign and fierce corporate opposition.
Since then, Amazon has challenged the union’s certification at the warehouse — called “YVR2” internally — at the Labour Relations Board and BC Supreme Court.
Unifor western regional director Gavin McGarrigle said the union isn’t deterred. McGarrigle has been trying to sit down with management to negotiate a first collective agreement.
“It hasn’t really slowed us down too much,” he said. “At the end of the day, there’s strong interest from the workers on the ground at YVR2.”
McGarrigle said the union went to the warehouse last month for six labour board-mandated meetings with employees to discuss unionization and next steps. He said the union expected Amazon to fight unionization, but his priority is getting workers a first collective agreement.
“We’re going to throw everything we have at this,” McGarrigle said. “We’re ready for the fight. There’s an easy way and a hard way to do things, and we’re ready for either.”
If successful, the Delta warehouse will be the only Amazon warehouse in Canada with a collective agreement. The $2.5 trillion company is known for fighting union efforts.
Last year, after workers at a Quebec distribution centre organized, the company shut down its seven centres in the province, which employed about 4,500 workers.
In the U.S., the company has faced allegations of dirty tricks and union-busting. Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, has been running card-signing drives at several Amazon warehouses in the Lower Mainland.
The union announced a drive at YVR3, an Amazon fulfillment centre near Braid Skytrain Station in New Westminster, B.C., in 2023. It started organizing YVR2 the same year.
In July, Unifor Local 114 won union certification at YVR2 after the BC Labour Relations Board found Amazon had illegally interfered with a certification vote.
The board found that Amazon had hired new workers in an attempt to influence the vote on certification and had intimidated and coerced employees away from unionizing.
Unifor presented evidence at labour board hearings alleging Amazon deployed a “rapid response” team of managers from cities across North America to speak to workers. The union alleged this was an effort to intimidate employees.
The labour board said the company’s abuses justified automatic certification without a vote by employees.
It also ordered Amazon to allow the union to meet with employees on-site.
Immediately after it lost at the board, the company told The Tyee it planned to fight the decision.
Amazon asked the board to reconsider its decision and to pause the collective bargaining process — an application the board rejected in August.
In the Aug. 8 reconsideration decision, a labour board panel wrote Amazon’s “deliberate and flagrant” attempt to pad an employee list for the express purpose of defeating a union organizing drive violated the labour code.
“We could go a step further, however, and say it also amounts to an abuse of the board’s process,” the panel said in the decision.
On Sept. 5, Amazon filed for a judicial review of the decision in the BC Supreme Court — a process that tests if a tribunal’s decision is unreasonable or unfair.
Amazon is asking the court to overturn the labour board’s reconsideration decision and reconsider some of the board’s orders, like union certification.
“The BCLRB’s decision to certify Unifor without counting a single vote fundamentally undermines our employees’ right to be heard,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in an email.
“We’ve appealed the decision because it’s wrong on the facts and the law, and because our employees should get to make this decision for themselves.”
McGarrigle said he expects the court to uphold the board’s decision. He’s calling for the company to start working toward a collective agreement.
“The quickest way to do this is to sit down and then negotiate an agreement,” McGarrigle said. “From our perspective, the sooner we can get that done, the better.”
The union has also launched a second challenge against Amazon at the BC Labour Relations Board.
The Sept. 16 complaint documents allege the company has not complied with the board’s previous orders after the original decision, including an order that Amazon must communicate information about the decision to employees.
The union alleges Amazon is also undermining its efforts to organize other B.C. Amazon locations.
The complaint has not yet been heard by the labour relations board.
Amazon’s Hards said the company “strongly disagrees” with the allegations in the complaint and looks forward to the legal process.
Hards added Amazon offers employees competitive wages and a wide range of benefits, including medical, vision and dental coverage.
“The truth is that Amazon already offers most of what unions claim to want — competitive wages, industry-leading benefits, career development opportunities, and a safe, inclusive workplace,” Hards said.
Meanwhile, McGarrigle said the interest in unionizing has been huge. The labour board mandated that Amazon pay employees for six on-site meetings with the union, which took place last week.
McGarrigle said he’s attended two of the six meetings at YVR2, both of which had lunch rooms “absolutely packed” with workers ready to share their thoughts.
“We’re expecting a lot of opposition along the way, but we’re saying, let’s just focus on the workers here, get a collective agreement and move on,” he said. “We don’t need to drag this out any longer. And these workers need a fair contract.”
