The Teamsters are big, but Amazon is bigger in the fight to unionize warehouse workers
CBC Radio | Posted: October 17, 2021 8:00 AM | Last Updated: October 17, 2021
Attempts to unionize Amazon warehouses in the United States have failed in the past. Could things be different in Canada?
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Back in April 2021, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama handed the online retail giant a decisive victory when they voted against forming a union, cutting off a path that labour activists hoped would lead to similar efforts elsewhere.
Since then, the Teamsters union has been actively trying to organize workers at Amazon facilities in Canada. The union has filed paperwork to hold a vote at a warehouse just outside Edmonton and if it succeeds in this union drive — it would be a first for Amazon warehouses in North America.
Producer Anis Heydari looks at whether a Canadian branch of one of the world's most well known unions could bring the planet's largest retailer to heel.
With files from The Fifth Estate, CBC News and The Associated Press.
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