An independent broker has found an online retail giant Amazon responsible for breaking the first contract agreements at YVR2, its only unionized fulfillment center in British Columbia.
The union representing Delta workers says the mediator recommended the dispute be resolved through binding mediation-arbitration.
Unifor national president Lana Payne says the company blocked workers “at every turn,” including at the bargaining table.
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Amazon spokesman Sam Stephenson says collective bargaining for a first contract is “complicated,” adding that the company has participated in good faith throughout the process and will continue to do so.
The union says a report submitted by the mediator to the BC Labor Relations Board found Amazon asked the union to permanently waive any right to challenge how hard and fast workers are being asked to work and told the mediator it would “never” move from that position.
He says the company also withheld wage proposals until April, despite the broker asking it to submit one.
“The mediator found that both failures were unreasonable and that Amazon’s conduct materially caused the impasse in the negotiations,” Unifor said in a press release.
The update comes after the BC Labor Relations Board found in February that Amazon breached the province’s labor code by giving workers at most of its facilities scheduled pay raises but leaving out union warehouse workers in Delta.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
