Amazon deliveries to Quebec blocked by activists at five Intelcom warehouses

Activists with Alliance Ouvrière block access to an Intelcom warehouse in Anjou on Saturday, as part of a coordinated protest against Amazon. (Credit Alliance Ouvrière)

On Saturday morning, activists with Alliance Ouvrière, a Quebec worker advocate group, along with various unions, blocked access to five Intelcom warehouses used by Amazon.

The warehouses are located in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent and Anjou boroughs, Gatineau, Quebec City and Joliette.

According to the workers group, the government and Amazon are intentionally turning a blind eye to workers’ mobilization.

“The organisation is demanding immediate action from all parties. It also points out that the government has the power to sanction Amazon, to compensate workers and that it can pass a special law to seize assets and ban the multinational’s activities from its territory,” Alliance Ouvrière said in a statement.

The organization has held several demonstrations over the last month but said it had yielded very little impact, prompting it to increase pressure.

The group explained that Intelcom was being targeted because its working conditions are “abysmal, possibly worse than Amazon’s,” and because Intelcom deliveries have a direct economic impact on Amazon by slowing its deliveries.

“The bourgeois at Amazon and Intelcom, with their puppets [Quebec Premier François] Legault and [Minister of Labour Jean] Boulet, need to understand that we will no longer accept letting our colleagues be thrown out on the street without reacting,” said Alliance Ouvrière spokesperson Benoît Dumais.

“The context is unequivocal. Amazon is closing its warehouses to break a union, Boulet is tabling Bill 89 to put an end to strikes whenever he pleases, and the federal government is issuing back-to-work orders at the drop of a hat. We are witnessing a frontal attack on the right of association of the working class in Canada.”