Today, an outside arbitrator imposed a collective agreement on our associates at YVR2, our fulfillment center in Delta, British Columbia, without giving associates the chance to ratify or vote on it. The three-year arbitrator-imposed agreement sets terms for wages, scheduling, layoffs, and benefits that are largely similar to what associates had already. However, it requires every employee in the unit to join the union, whether they want to or not, and to have union dues of up to CA $1,064 deducted from their pay in the first year, with that number increasing in future years. That means they could actually take home less money than they did before.
Our associates weren’t allowed to vote on whether to accept it, which has become an unfortunate pattern with the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (more on that below). We're sharing this update because we believe the public, our employees, and policymakers deserve to understand the full story of what's happened and what it means for our teammates.
How we got here
An initial vote ordered by the Board (without sufficient showing of employee support). In 2024, a chapter of the Unifor union claimed it had gathered enough support among YVR2 associates to hold a vote on whether or not to have a union at the site. As typically happens, an officer from the Labor Relations Board then reviewed the evidence to determine if there was, in fact, enough support to call for a vote. The officer reported to the Labor Relations Board that the union did not have the required employee support to move forward with an election. Nonetheless, the Board ordered a vote anyway.
Results kept under seal. The election happened one week later and saw high participation, with more than 80% of eligible associates showing up and casting a ballot. What would typically happen next is those ballots would be opened and counted to determine the outcome. However, due to objections raised by the union, the Board sealed those ballots and never counted them. Because the ballot box was never opened, there's no evidence that a majority of YVR2 associates voted to be represented by the union.
Board-ordered representation. In July 2025, still having not opened a single ballot, the Board reviewed claims from the union about the election process, then certified the union and declared that employees would be represented by Unifor. We disagreed, believing that our employees’ voices should be heard, so we filed an appeal. The Board-ordered representation stood, and the process continued to move without a single employee vote counted.
Associates try to be heard again, but their votes are once again sealed. Since that Board ordered certification, a group of YVR2 associates applied to remove the union through a decertification application (a process where associates, without any participation from Amazon, ask to decertify a union). The Board was required to hold a decertification vote in response, and that vote happened in July of 2026. Again, turnout was strong—more than 70% of eligible YVR2 associates cast a ballot. But, once again, those associates don't know the result. The Board sealed the ballots and hasn't counted them. And the union is now fighting to have the vote thrown out entirely so it could never be counted.
After having their votes sealed twice, associates take to the courts. A number of YVR2 associates have since organized public demonstrations to express their desire to be free of union representation, and they've retained their own legal counsel and independently filed a request for judicial review in the BC Supreme Court. They haven’t yet been given a decision on the merits of their arguments in a court.
Arbitrator decides the contract. While the associates’ appeals and Amazon’s appeals continue to sit on the court docket, the Board determined that the process of imposing a contract on associates should proceed at pace. The Board ordered Amazon and the union to go through mediation, but we didn’t reach an agreement. So, the Board ordered an arbitrator to make a final decision on what the contract should be. That contract is what was announced today, and it imposes terms on Amazon and YVR2 associates around several key aspects of their employment. There was no opportunity for associates to vote on whether they agree with the terms or not.
What this means for YVR2 associates right now
All associates in the bargaining unit now have to join the union as a condition of employment, whether they wanted to or not. Now that a collective agreement is in place, union dues will be deducted directly from YVR2 associates' paychecks. The agreement runs for three years, through October 31, 2029. This collective agreement applies to one site only, YVR2, and doesn't affect other Amazon facilities across Canada.
What Amazon is doing to challenge the Board’s decision
While the Board has been able to force this contract on our team, we continue fighting for a fair process on multiple fronts and won’t stop until we’ve exhausted all options or our associates are finally given an opportunity to be heard. We'll keep challenging decisions that we believe break from long-standing precedent, keep asking for our associates' decertification ballots to be counted, and take our concerns all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
What are associates doing
Separately and on their own, YVR2 associates filed a request for judicial review in the BC Supreme Court, asking to halt implementation of the collective agreement until their decertification application is resolved and to overturn the Board's order imposing a contract through arbitration. Their decertification ballots remain sealed and uncounted, but if they’re counted and show a majority didn't want representation, the union would be decertified and the contract imposed on associates would be void.
Continuing to invest in our teammates
Legal processes like this take time and resources, but we’re not going to let them distract from our ongoing investment in our teammates across Canada—work that isn't the result of any union or arbitration. First and foremost, we’ve always listened directly to our team (we have many different channels for them to give us feedback) and we act on it—changing processes, adding benefits, and helping them succeed.
On top of that, we regularly review our offerings, which include competitive wages, comprehensive health and dental benefits, RRSP matching, paid time off, education programs like Career Choice (where we’ll pre-pay for our teammates to get degrees or certificates in in-demand fields), and many others. We do that because we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.
We think the best workplace is one where associates have direct input and we work together to make progress quickly, and where nobody should have to pay dues or go through a third party to be heard.
Our position
The Board has held two votes and sealed both without counting them, union representation was ordered, and now a contract has been imposed. We believe that this process was improper, unfair, and defies common sense. If a group of people vote on issues that are important to them, their votes should be opened, counted, and respected. And we believe that it’s important to understand the facts and that associates should get to decide for themselves, at Amazon or anywhere else.
