The workers of a Amazon Fulfilo Center in Delta, BC, have been officially certified to unionize, after the BC Labor Relations Board found that the company participated in unfair labor practices that interfered with the unionization process.
The union had requested to certify the installation for the unionization last year, but the results of that vote were sealed due to an unfair complaint of labor practices presented by the union, claiming that Amazon increased the hiring to try to dilute the union support.
After 18 days of hearings, the Board ruled on Thursday that the campaign “deliberate, calculated and generalized by Amazon” anti-Sindicato undermined the possibility of a fair vote, and granted the certification of Unifor through a rare recovery order that is used when the employer misconduct compromises the integrity of a vote.
“We are very happy for Amazon workers who have been fighting so hard to obtain access to collective bargaining and a fair collective agreement,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Western Regional Director of Unifor.
Unifor submitted its first request for the Certification of the Union in April 2024, then withdrew it shortly after. A second request was submitted in May.
According to the decision of the Labor Board, Amazon brought 148 new employees between March and June 2024, a period that overcame both certification attempts. The Board found this influx, together with a coordinated anti-union campaign, substantially impacted the unionization process.
Unifor claimed that Amazon increased hiring and flooded workers with anti-union messages, including suggestions that they could lose the existing benefits if they were syndicated.
In its ruling, the Board discovered that the company had violated the BC Labor Relations Code.
Confection des Syndes Nationalux says that 4,500 affected workers do not yet have a work, adequate compensation or government help. Amazon closed its seven warehouses and delivery services in Quebec in January 2025, a decision that the company said it was linked to cost savings.
“Meeting that Amazon hired unnecessary employees, who had both the impact and the purpose of preventing the organizing impulse of the union,” said Vice President Gurleen Sahota in her decision.
The document describes the ways in which the company tried to persuade the employees of the unionization, including the practice of the “Pulsar” corporation in which it evaluates the culture, leadership and satisfaction of employees in their sites. The process includes meeting with employees one by one and asking questions about their experiences in the workplace and “educating them in Amazon’s policies and procedures.”
“The employees were subjected to ‘pressing’ by managers of several sites and a constant flood of anti -communion materials and messages carefully built by Amazon … The message made the union seem bad,” says the decision.
A first in BC, third in North America
The certification makes the Delta warehouse only the third Amazon installation in North America to unionize after one in Staten Island, New York, in 2022 and another in Laval, which., In 2024.
Laval’s Warehouse, which used some 230 workers, was the first Amazon site in Canada in unionizing. However, the company closed the seven facilities in Quebec in January 2025, citing cost savings. Thousands of workers have not yet received adequate compensation or assistance, according to the union that represents them.
McGarrigle acknowledged Amazon’s story to resist unions, but said BC has stronger labor protections.
“We have seen what Amazon has done in other jurisdictions … but BC’s labor laws are strong,” he said. “We will expect Amazon to continue the law and feel and feel in collective bargaining with us.”
Workers have expressed concerns about unstable employment and security at Delta’s facilities, he said.
“No matter the employer’s size, they will have to follow the law and must take care of their workers and make sure that happens,” McGarrigle said.
Amazon to appeal
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said in a statement on Friday that the company will challenge the decision.
“This decision is incorrect about the facts and the law … it goes against what our employees have said they want and deprives them of their right to make an informed decision,” he wrote.
Nantel said the Board surpassed the union instead of “giving our employees the opportunity to be heard.”
Collective bargaining
Mark Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at the School of Business of UBC, said that the Board’s decision is based on a long data provision of the BC Labor Code.
Thompson said that when a company actions make a fair vote unlikely, the Board can impose certification directly.
“The theory is that if the company fights with the union strong enough, the result is that they get a union,” he said. “The techniques that Amazon used were such that a vote would not produce a fair result.”
Even so, he warned that certification is only the beginning of what could be a long and difficult process.
The other unionized Amazon workforce in North America, certified in Staten Island, New York, in 2022, still does not have a contract.
“It’s characteristic of Amazon, they don’t want a union and turn to many tactics to avoid having a union,” said Thompson. “It will be a long journey for workers and I am sure they understood that this would be a long fight.”
