Unions and organizations demonstrate to fight against inflation

2023-09-05 01:46:30

About twenty labor and community organizations demonstrated Monday in Montreal to demand wage increases in particular, in a context of inflation.

“Inflation, low wages, only the fight will pay,” chanted the crowd, which gathered on Sherbrooke Street West, in front of the offices of Prime Minister François Legault. In the heat of the afternoon, hundreds of militants marched in this artery towards the east, reciting in chorus: “Our living conditions before their profits! »

This is the fourth Labor Day in a row during which a demonstration by union and community circles in the Montreal region has been organized to denounce capitalism, underlined Fanny Labelle, head of mobilization and finance for the Movement. action-chômage of Montreal.

“Are there any angry people here?” Asked the microphone Dominique Daigneault, president of the Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN). The crowd responded in the affirmative by sounding trumpets and whistles.

“We are fed up with social inequalities, we are fed up with exploitation, we are fed up with the suffering generated by our economic system,” continued Ms.^me Daigneault. The latter added that “every struggle” is important to make things happen.

Fighting inflation is one of the central concerns this year, said Mr.^me Label in interview. “We see how the needs, even those of workers who work full time, are increasing. Many of them now turn to food banks to feed their families, she said. According to her, a salary increase is therefore necessary.

In a statement sent by his cabinet to the Duty, the Quebec Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, recalls having raised the minimum wage from $14.25 to $15.25 an hour last May. “This has direct effects on the employees targeted, in particular by improving the purchasing power of low-income people, while respecting the ability to pay of small businesses,” he says.

“Just ecological transition”

Aside from inflation, there was also talk of a just ecological transition at Monday’s protest. “What is the just transition? It’s because when decision-makers sit down, workers must be at the table with a view to developing new climate policies,” explained Marc-Édouard Joubert, president of the Metropolitan Montreal Regional Council of the Fédération des workers of Quebec (FTQ).

The just ecological transition also means “supporting workers who could lose their jobs in certain sectors of activity and who would be called upon to requalify”, he declared.

The activists present at the event also expressed their support for the public sector inter-union common front in its negotiations with Quebec for the renewal of the collective agreements. It is made up of the CSN, the FTQ, the Central Trade Unions of Quebec and the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services.