This reflection was written by Jesse Zink for this week’s Wingèd Ox, a weekly news digest distributed to the college community. You will find reflections from previous weeks here.

Dear colleagues,

In January, Amazon announced that it intends to close its seven warehouses and other facilities in Quebec in the coming weeks. Close to 2000 people employed by Amazon will lose their jobs as well as several thousand more whose jobs are linked to Amazon. Amazon presented this as part of a regular review of its business and said the decision will “enable us to offer the same excellent service and deliver even greater savings to our customers in the long term.”

What was left unsaid is that less than a year ago the staff of the warehouse in Laval became the first to unionize at an Amazon facility in Canada and that last fall Amazon lost its appeal of this decision. Amazon denies any connection but last year the company ended a relationship with a sub-contractor in California when its employees went on strike. Amazon continues to refuse to deal with a union that was legally formed at a warehouse in New York City, more than two years after the unionization vote. It’s not hard to see that Amazon is determined at all costs to avoid having to deal with a union—up to and including shutting these warehouses in Quebec.

In the baptismal covenant used in the Anglican Church of Canada, those baptized—i.e. members of the church—commit to “respect the dignity of every human being.” Historically, labour organizing has been one way in which workers assert their dignity, individually and collectively. Christian leaders and theologians have repeatedly affirmed the importance of unions in building a more just society, and many Christians have worked alongside or joined unions to support their work. When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, for instance, he was supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis whose slogan was “I am a man!”, an assertion of dignity and personhood when so much in society seemed stacked against them.

Since Amazon announced its decision, there has been plenty of expressions of dismay from politicians and calls to boycott the company on social media. But no one really seems to think that boycotting Amazon will work. Can any of us really give up our relationship with Amazon? I think part of the answer to this question is in the reasons Amazon gave: convenience and low cost. We live in an economic system that encourages us to think of ourselves as consumers first and foremost and to place great value on consumption that is as easy and convenient as possible: 1-click ordering, same- or next-day delivery, and all that.

Amazon’s announcement has encouraged me to further distance myself from the company but I’m realistic: nothing I do will change the company’s mind. But I do think this is an opportunity to ask ourselves who we think we are and what we want out of this world. Do we want to live in a world in which we are seen primarily as consumers and whose highest good is convenience? Or do we want to strive for a world in which we respect the dignity of all people, including workers (which many of us actually are)? My church teaches that my baptism calls me to the latter course. What Amazon’s decision reminds me is that in order to respect that dignity I may first need to see myself—and all people—in a different way than the corporations that dominate our world would like us to.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Jesse Zink

Principal