As elsewhere in the world, thousands of demonstrators marched on the streets of Canadian cities to demand better wages and working conditions on this International Labor Day, which was marked this year by rising inflation.
In Toronto, about 100 protesters from various walks of life – some front -line workers, other migrant workers working for agricultural producers – gathered outside Queens Park to demand increase in the minimum wage to 20 dollars per hour to compensate for the loss of their purchasing power.
The minimum wage of $ 15 per hour is not enoughsaid a protester. All prices are rising, but not the salary. Workers find themselves in dangerous conditions. Rents are going up, everything is going up, why are our wages going down?
These demands were stressed in Montreal and Quebec, where demonstrators denounced increases deemed insufficient to the minimum wage.
For the Coalition 1er mai, which organized the rally in Montreal, the increase to $ 14.25 per hour in the minimum wage is not decent.
Today, the minimum wage is what workers need seven years agoexplained its spokesperson Marie-Claude Tremblay, who recalled that wages did not keep pace with inflation.
It is not normal, it is not decent for workers to be forced to have two or three jobs and still remain in unemployment.he begged.
Downstairs
The secretary general of the Conseil central de Québec – Chaudière-Appalaches (CSN), François Proulx-Duperré, agrees.
Even if we look at $ 14.25 per hour for someone working full time, it’s impossible to get there with the increase in [prix du] housing, food and fuelsaid one who took part in the demonstration in Quebec.
Québec solidaire MNA Ruba Ghazal, who is with a contingent of his party in Montreal, is of the opinion that the minimum wage should reach $ 18 per hour to provide decent living conditions.
” What is disastrous and very annoying now is there are people at the bottom of the stairs, who work full time and have to go to the food banks. “
The Collective for a Poverty-Free Quebec has been demanding a minimum wage of $ 18 per hour since last fall. According to the group, more than 850,000 workers in Quebec will earn this wage or lower hourly rate by 2021.
The Chair of Research in Taxation and Public Finance at Sherbrooke University maintains that the number of workers in Quebec earning the lowest wages is at its lowest level in 15 years.
The business world needs balance
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling for caution, given the opinion that Quebec companies are already having difficulty raising the minimum wage to $ 14.25 per hour.
Its vice president François Vincent pointed out that SMEs themselves are affected by rising prices of goods and services.
” Half of Quebec businesses have fewer than five employees. However, the smaller the company, the greater the cost increase. “
This is why he considers the necessary financial assistance from the government to help SMEs, who are at a disadvantage compared to large companies in their ability to absorb additional wages and rising cost of living.
Ang CFIB believe that small businesses can be great if they benefit from a reduction in taxation, especially the payroll tax.
According to Francois Vincent, Government policies must achieve balance to meet the needs of citizens, without negatively affecting the economy of small businesses in Quebec .
Source: Radio-Canada
