Quebec's minimum wage is now $12/hour, but protesters rallied on May Day to say it is not enough.

Union leaders gathered at Mount Royal metro station on Tuesday morning to say the minimum wage in Quebec should be $15/hour.

They called for a 5-10-15 rule: workers to know their schedule at least five days in advance, ten days banked each year for illness or family emergencies, and a $15 per hour minimum wage.

On May 1 Quebec's minimum pay scale increased by 75 cents an hour for those who do not earn tips.

In Alberta the minimum wage is $13.60/hour and will rise to $15/hour on Oct. 1.

In Ontario the minimum wage is $14/hour and it goes up to $15 on Jan. 1, 2019.

Quebec’s labour minister said that will benefit the more than 350,000 people who work for minimum wage in Quebec, nearly 60 per cent of whom are women.

Gabrielle Bouchard, president of the Federation des Femmes du Quebec, said the increase won’t help women who are facing poverty.

“It is a feminist issue, it is a women’s issue, and we want to have women and everyone else at minimum wage get out of poverty and $12 is not cutting it,” she said.

“For many women who are in a couple, it can go to making a choice as saying going to work will cost me too much and our family cannot afford it, because we'll have to provide for daycare,” she said. “If businesses are making money, making wealth for the owners on the backs of worker, I think we need to reconsider that.”

Luc Senechal, co-owner of the small coffee shop La Brume in Little Italy, feels differently. He said they increased wages at the café a few months ahead of the official increase.

“We planned ahead, so now we’re comfortable with the decision and we’re very open and eager to give them more than that. But for now it’s difficult because it’s a small business,” he said.

Senechal advocates gradual increases, as well as providing subsidies and tax breaks for small businesses, like his, where there are only six employees.

La Brume is making adjustments to the menu to make ends meet.

“We don’t make a lot of money right now. We try, but everybody asks us for a lot: suppliers, the government, the city, everybody wants their share of the cake,” he said.

Many economists say increases need to be gradual, and a spike to $15/hr is too much, too soon.

“People who are calling for this have a poor understanding of economics and don’t understand that they may hurt those they want to help and they may hurt them pretty bad,” said Vincent Gelaso of the Montreal Economic Institute.

“Sometimes employers will react by increasing prices, sometimes they'll react by cutting the quality of the service,” he added. “We’ve seen in other places when there are substantial increases what happens is employers will not fire people, but they’ll cut hours by a large amount.”

Gelaso said he believes there’s a better approach.

“if you want to help poor people, there are two ways of doing so: Give them the money directly, or make sure businesses can hire more people. Find ways of allowing the demand for workers to go up,” he said. “One way of doing so is to reduce the taxes, reduce the taxes on payroll. That would probably be much more efficient dollar for dollar. It would have much more kicking power to help those who actually need at the bottom of the ladder a chance to jump on the ladder. “

For coffee shop employee Justine-Anne Rowell, the new minimum wage suits her fine.

“I think it's just enough to pay the rent, buy food and everything. You're just right on it at the end of the month,” said the 25-year-old.

Rowell said she knows she will move on to higher paying jobs eventually, but wishes she didn't have to.

“I think everyone, even older persons, should be able to work in a coffee shop like that, a small business like that and be able to pay all their bills, and be happy with it. Because with my day to day life here, I'm really happy. I would just like a bit more money,” she said.