IKEA employees in Montreal launch strike

IKEA employees in Montreal launched a 10-day strike on Saturday over the employer’s inadequate wage offers, their union said. 

The Montreal Ikea union, affiliated with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), maintains that workers at the furniture store earn less than those in similar workplaces, and is therefore calling for compensation. The union represents approximately 450 employees in positions ranging from the warehouse to the showroom and kitchen. 

The organization reports that the employer does not offer employees a salary indexed to inflation.

Elie Zetrenne, president of the Montreal Ikea Union, said that IKEA proposed a 50-cent annual raise for employees at the top of the pay scale on April 23. 

“It’s really an insult to us,” he said in an interview, while on the picket line set up in front of the store located on Cavendish Blvd., in the borough of Saint-Laurent. 

The union says that across all salary levels, the employer has offered a salary increase of around 5 per cent over four years, on average. 

Currently, an IKEA employee in Montreal can earn up to $25.42 per hour at the top of the ladder, Zetrenne said. 

“What we asked for was a 14 per cent raise, because we take into account the cost of living with gas, rising rents, and groceries,” said the union president. “We want our salary to reach around $30 over three or four years.” 

Zetrenne claims that IKEA employees are asking for a raise that would allow them to live better.

“IKEA Montreal’s vision, and IKEA’s in general, is to improve the daily lives of as many people as possible. And a 50-cent raise doesn’t improve the daily lives of its employees,” argued Zetrenne. 

IKEA employees in Montreal have been without a job contract since last January.

The IKEA store in Montreal remained open Saturday, but only management staff were working there, Zetrenne said.

At the time of writing, IKEA Canada had not responded to an email request for comment. 

The Swedish-born chain, now headquartered in the Netherlands, has 16 stores across Canada. Three are located in Quebec: Montreal, Boucherville, and Quebec City. 

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews