MONTREAL — After almost three months on strike, 550 workers at Metro supermarket’s fruit and vegetable warehouse in Laval, its drivers at the warehouse in Rivieres-des-Prairies, and its office workers at its headquarters in Montreal rejected the company’s latest proposal by 95%. The vote was held at a mass membership meeting June 18 of the United Grocers Workers Union, which is part of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN).
“Most people thought the company’s wage offer wasn’t enough. We know we deserve better,” Georges Evens, a picket captain who has worked in the warehouse for 15 years, told the Militant. “It’s very physically demanding work, done in the cold.” Workers face a lot of shoulder and lower back injuries.
All the strikers, whose real wages have been declining for years, are demanding raises that keep up with inflation and more, to make up for concessions in their last six-year contract. Metro’s initial wage proposal was 11% over six years to the highest-paid workers and only 1% a year to the lowest paid, well below the rising cost of living.
“We’ll fight as long as we need to,” striker Sonny Marcil said.
Metro Inc. is one of the two largest supermarket chains in Quebec, with 670 stores, and one of the three largest chains across Canada. Their 2025 profits were more than $1 billion Canadian dollars ($710 million).
In the first few days of the strike Metro obtained a court injunction barring workers from picketing within 5 meters (15 feet) of facility entrances. That means they can’t stop production.
The union filed a complaint against Metro in May with the Administrative Labour Tribunal for using both strikebreakers and contract labor as scabs. The tribunal ruled on April 22 that Metro was in fact using strikebreakers, despite its denials. However, as of July 13 it hasn’t taken any action against the company.
“Workers are angry: Metro using scabs is simply unacceptable,” union President Matthieu Lafontaine said.
Solidarity is crucial. The outcome of this fight will have an impact on the ability of other workers to fight for better wages and working conditions. The Metro workers are picketing at the two warehouses 24/7 and at the head office during business hours. Join them!