Amazon.com Inc. will shut down all warehouses and lay off employees in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec.

“Following a recent review of our Quebec operations, we’ve seen that returning to a third-party delivery model supported by local small businesses, similar to what we had until 2020, will allow us to provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run,” said Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait in an emailed statement.

The retail giant will close its seven Quebec sites and terminate about 1,900 permanent and seasonal workers in the coming weeks.

“We received a message from Amazon’s lawyers around six o’clock this morning saying that all warehouses in Quebec will be closed,” said the Federation of National Trade Unions. The Quebec union had been negotiating with Amazon since July to create a collective agreement for 300 employees at a warehouse in Laval, a suburb of Montreal.

The announcement is unrelated to those unionization efforts, Amazon said in its statement. The company added it has no plans to close warehouses elsewhere.
“This decision wasn’t made lightly, and we’re offering impacted employees a package that includes up to 14 weeks’ pay after facilities close and transitional benefits, like job placement resources,” Agrait said.

Radio-Canada was first to report the news.