This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
Since July 22, the Maxi branch in Lac-Mégantic, in the Eastern Townships, has been experiencing a real “social crisis”, in the words of the city’s mayor, Julie Morin. For the Central of Democratic Unions (CSD), this conflict is symptomatic of the precarious, even miserable, conditions that are the lot of a large number of food store workers in Quebec.
The labor dispute in Lac-Mégantic has pitted 70 Maxi store employees against Loblaw, owner of the brand which also owns Provigo and Pharmaprix, for three and a half months. The president of the CSD, Luc Vachon, highlights “the huge profits collected by Maxi, in a context where the majority of employees earn between $14.48 and $16.31 per hour (after years of service), i.e. barely above minimum wage. According to a study by Dalhousie University, Loblaw’s gross profit for the first half of 2022 surpassed its previous best by $180 million, which equates to about $1 million more per day.
An imposed model
“In most Maxis, the model allows employees to progress (change levels) every 600 hours worked. Sometimes it’s less. In Lac-Mégantic, in particular, it’s every 500 hours,” he explains. However, when there is a general salary increase, as provided for annually in the collective agreement, the procedure is not to modify the salary grid for each step, but rather to add a step at the top of the ‘ladder. “I’ve never seen such an aberration,” says Mr. Vachon.
In other words, annual salary increases are not applied to all employees, as commonly seen elsewhere. “This model is designed to allow those at the top of the ladder to continue to progress through the new rungs, but it keeps others in a precarious position. The starting salary, for example, is never indexed and does not change for the duration of the collective agreement. It’s scandalous ! denounces Luc Vachon.
Actors who feed on misery
The pandemic has not affected the resources of the large low-cost food chain, quite the contrary. Unlike restaurants – a luxury cut when the budget is too tight – the crisis benefits it. “The worse the economy is, the more people have financial difficulties, and the more they go shopping at Maxi”, insists Luc Vachon, for whom the brand “feeds on the misery of the world”. In its latest offer to striking employees, the Lac-Mégantic store proposed salary increases of around 2 to 2.25% per year over 7 years (while the inflation rate was reaching 7 to 8% these last months). Galen G. Weston, the group’s CEO, paid himself a bonus of $2 million in 2021, thus increasing his income by 60%.
The situation for Maxi employees is no better in the rest of the province, according to the CSD. “All establishments apply the same model, and the salaries are among the lowest that can be found today on the job market in Quebec, all sectors combined,” denounces Mr. Vachon.
For the president of the CSD, the business model of the food giants as a whole must be questioned. “In Lac-Mégantic, the conditions at Metro are better,” admits the man who nevertheless considers the salaries insufficient in the sector, even if most of the banners apply salaries slightly higher than those of Maxi. “Without being so shocking, they remain weak compared to all sectors of activity, which improve salary conditions to cope with the high cost of living and to be able to retain and attract people, with increases 4, 5 or 6%, or even more. Only this sector has not understood this,” observes Mr. Vachon.
A social role to play
In most economic sectors, wages are adjusted to inflation, continues the president of the CSD, for whom the giants of the food trade are an exception. “It’s as if their staff were living in a glass bubble. That does not make sense ! he protests. However, their meager wages make these workers particularly vulnerable to price increases (housing, food, etc.).
For the CSD, it is time to question the ethical and social role of businesses in Quebec society. Just as we measure their environmental involvement, we must also evaluate the latter in relation to the community. “Loblaw is siphoning money from the communities to redistribute it to its shareholders. There is no community involvement, no return through the granting of decent conditions”, deplores the man who considers that large companies which do not accept to play their social role simply have no place in the Quebec.
get up together
Beyond the mobilization in Lac-Mégantic, the CSD invites workers in food businesses to refuse the abusive models imposed. “The situation to be denounced does not only concern this city. What is behind it are pitiful conditions and extreme profits in this sector of activity as a whole, with an additional layer at Loblaw,” maintains Luc Vachon, who calls on all workers in the sector to unite. “Stop accepting these situations and stand up to denounce and refuse them. We have a gang who is standing up in Lac-Mégantic, but we can’t win alone, there has to be a generalized movement,” he insists.
For the CSD, if everyone gets together, the giants of the sector will have no choice but to change their models. “There are oligopolies and market controls that allow them to dictate their terms, often under threat. It absolutely has to stop,” says Mr. Vachon, who argues that Loblaw is emblematic of unhealthy behavior. “We give each other bonuses, bonuses, we share record profits and we offer people 2 to 2.25% increases. That does not make sense ! Loblaw created misery, but does not know it itself. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.