Revamped labour laws in British Columbia have led Canada's largest private-sector union to focus on the province as it aims to organize Amazon employees.
Last week, Unifor launched a drive to unionize Amazon staff at a news conference outside one of the U.S. corporation's fulfilment centres in New Westminster, B.C.
It's the latest union in Canada to make an organizing push, and if successful, the centre would be the first unionized Amazon workplace in the country.
"We have one of the best labour law regimes here," said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor's western regional director, in an interview after the event.
McGarrigle referred to changes in B.C.'s Labour Relations Code that came into effect in June 2022 that make it easier to form a union.
The code now says if 55 per cent of employees sign union cards during an organizing drive, they can apply for certification. Previously, the B.C. Labour Relations Board (LRB) required 45 per cent of employees to sign cards, and then a majority had to vote in favour of organizing in a vote conducted by the board at the worksite.
That removes the opportunity for the company to influence the outcome of the vote, McGarrigle said.
"Workers don't have to go through the intimidation of a vote where companies like Amazon will spend weeks bombarding them with anti-union messages and trying to convince them that it's not a good thing to join the union," he said.
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