Montreal workers demand higher minimum wage increase at May Day march

A large number of demonstrators took to the streets of Montreal Sunday to mark International Workers' Day, demanding a higher minimum wage increase and better working conditions.

Participants gathered in Cabot Square in downtown Montreal under sunny skies, many waving their union flags.

As in previous years, the march was organized by the May Day Coalition, a group of 15 unions and organizations who sayworkers just can't keep up with the rising cost of living.

On Sunday, the minimum wage in Quebec increased by 75 cents, bringing it to $14.25 an hour.

Marie-Claude Tremblay, the organizer of the march andmember of the Centrale des syndicats du Qubec (CSQ) union, said that amountisstill not enough to make ends meet due to soaring inflation.

"This year, the minimum wage is what we needed a few years ago," she said.

According to Statistics Canada, consumer prices in March were up 6.7 per cent compared to last year the highest increase in 30 years.

"It's not normal, it's not decent for workers to have to work two or three jobs to remain in this precarious state," saidTremblay.

"A decent salary must be a right, not a privilege."

QubecSolidaire MNA Ruba Ghazal, who was with a contingent of her party in Montreal, said the minimum wage must reach $18 an hour to provide decent living conditions.

"What's catastrophic and very infuriating today is that people at the bottom of the ladder, who work full-time, have to use food banks," she said.

According to the coalition, more than 850,000 Quebec workers earned this salary or a lower hourly rate in 2021.

In addition to increased wages, the coalition also called for improvements to working conditions, including offering a better work-life balance, the right to breaks and the right to have schedules in advance.

Leading the march this year were strikers from Rolls-Royce Canada, affiliated with the Confdration des syndicats nationaux (CSN), and from the Molson-Coors plant in Longueuil, affiliated with the Teamsters union.

Workers at both Montreal facilities have been off the job for more than a month.

"For us, it's important to be here, especially because we are opening the march because we are inconflict since March 15 the company, Rolls-Royce Canada, put us in lockout," saidRichard Dufour, vice president of Rolls Royce Canada's union.

The motto for this year's march is Pour vivre comme du monde to live like people. The organizers say it's a wink to the popular front protests decades ago.

This year was the 50th anniversary of the first common front, in which the three major union federations of the time joined forces to negotiate collective agreements for public and parapublic sectors.Over 200,000 union members from government, education and social services hit picket lines together after years of unrest with the provincial government.

Last month, the CSN, CSQ and FTQ unions announced another common front for 2023 contract negotiations.