Amazon, the CSN and the Attorney General of Quebec met before the Administrative Labor Tribunal on Friday to discuss the employer’s challenge to the union accreditation process at the Laval warehouse.
On the merits, the employer contests the process which consists of signing union membership cards, to form one, rather than holding a secret vote among the workers potentially concerned.
Amazon’s lawyer, Mr.e Frédéric Massé argued that the absence of a secret ballot contravened the freedom of association provided for in the charters.
In addition to this constitutional challenge, Amazon also filed a motion to review or revoke union certification.
In the case of the Laval warehouse, where the union was certified on May 10, Amazon maintains that there was not a sufficient investigation by the labor relations officer before concluding that the union did indeed represent a majority of the potentially targeted workers.
However, the parties have not yet addressed the merits of these cases. They debated, on Friday, the employer’s interest in invoking certain aspects that it wants to raise in its requests.
For example, the employer maintains that the absence of a secret vote constitutes a contravention of freedom of association, whereas this freedom of association is a right of workers to associate, and not a right of the employer.
Me Amélie Bellerose, representing the Attorney General, argued that Amazon is not an interested party in the matter, that it is the employees and the union who are and that they could challenge an infringement of their freedom of association.
Me Massé, who represents Amazon, insisted that he was not seeking to challenge the “representative character” of the union, but the union’s certification process. Its insistence on this point is explained by the fact that the Labor Code specifies that “the only parties interested in the representative nature of an association of employees are any employee included in the bargaining unit or any association of interested employees”. The employer is therefore not mentioned.
Me Jessie Caron, representing the CSN union, also criticized the employer for presuming without proof that the labor relations officer had not carried out a sufficient investigation, when he concluded that the union was representative after have carried out the usual checks.
Administrative judge Irène Zaïkoff took the case under advisement. She wishes to make her decision “as soon as possible”.
The Amazon Laval Workers’ Union represents some 200 employees. It is attached to the Fédération du commerce, affiliated with the CSN.