I thought I’d provide some information on one element of the worker experience in restaurants in Montreal. Everyone knows that the industry depends HEAVILY on immigrants, which is no bad thing in itself. Working in several restaurants in Montreal as a server, I noticed the dishwashers are almost all Indian students on visas that only allow them to work 20 hrs a week. Employers love hiring this profile of dishwasher because they can give them cheques for the 20 hrs and pay them cash under the table for the remaining 60 hrs (yes you read that right; the dishwashers are working btwn 60-80 hrs a week). The minimum wage here is around $15/hr but the dishwashers are paid $9-10/hr and happily accept this arrangement as they end up making more money than they would be able to if they followed their visa’s requirements.
I feel like there’s a lot of stuff like this happening in the province, the country, and the globe in general and that the media doesn’t cover it because it’s too ingrained and the system would fall apart if the rules were followed. I won’t even go into the voodoo-economics paycheques I received as a server.