Material handler: pay in Quebec and Greater Montreal
A material handler loads, unloads and moves goods, by hand or with a pallet jack, in the warehouses and plants of Greater Montreal. This page covers the occupation broadly: the tasks, the shifts, what Quebec law requires of the employer, and what the market actually pays, region by region.
- Quebec median
- $22/h
- Range
- $16.94 – $31.32/h
- Montreal
- $21/h
Guichet-Emplois (Job Bank), edition 2025 · CNP 75101
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Material handler pay, region by region
| Region | Low | Median | High | vs Quebec | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $16.94 | $22 | $31.32 | — | — |
| Montérégie | $19.09 | $23.28 | $31.90 | +6% | $22.50 (284) |
| Montréal | $16.10 | $21 | $26 | −5% | $22.66 (134) |
| Laval | $16.10 | $21 | $30.50 | −5% | $23.20 (29) |
| Lanaudière | $18.50 | $22.74 | $38 | +3% | $20.96 (69) |
| Laurentides | $18 | $20.80 | $30 | −5% | $21 (53) |
The table reads NOC 75101, which puts material handlers, forklift operators, truck loaders and furniture movers under the same figures. It leaves out longshore workers, heavy equipment operators, storekeepers and warehouse supervisors: those trades have their own code, and their own wages.
Low, median and high wages published by Job Bank (NOC 75101), and pay offered in Greater Montreal job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings — under ten, no median is shown.
Quebec median by file edition: 2023: $20/h · 2024: $21/h · 2025: $22/h.
What the job postings say
Of 590 postings on Job Bank in Greater Montreal (6 months, February to August 2026), 4% mention a night shift, 12% an evening shift and 6% weekends.
Days are still the norm at receiving. Shipping often runs into the evening, because the trucks leave overnight. In food distribution and parcel sorting, nights and weekends are common, and weekend work usually carries a shift premium. Compressed schedules exist too: ten- or twelve-hour days, fewer days worked, but on your feet on concrete from start to finish. The shares shown above come from real Greater Montreal postings, not from an estimate.
What a material handler does
- Load and unload trucks and trailers at the dock, by hand or with a pallet jack.
- Build pallets: stack, balance the load, wrap and label before shipping.
- Devan containers and sort incoming goods by item code at receiving.
- Count, weigh, sort, pack and unpack products and materials.
- Feed raw material to production lines and move finished goods out.
- Move furniture and appliances on commercial or industrial moves.
- Flag damaged cartons, unstable pallets and counts that miss the packing slip.
- Run conveyors, winches and the simple lifting equipment found on a dock.
- Keep the dock clear: pallet wood, stretch wrap, cardboard, travel aisles.
- Take part in inventory counts and end-of-shift checks.
Requirements, cards and certifications
- Physical capacity held across a full shift: lifting, pushing, pulling and carrying, standing.
- WHMIS training (SIMDUT in French) as soon as a hazardous product is on site. Section 62.1 of Quebec's Act respecting occupational health and safety covers anyone exposed, or likely to be; section 62.5 makes the employer verify the training is adequate, and section 30 of the Hazardous Products Information Regulation sets its minimum content.
- Instruction on safe load handling, which section 166 of the RSST (Quebec's occupational health and safety regulation) requires the employer to provide.
- Protective footwear meeting CAN/CSA-Z195 wherever a heavy object can fall on a foot. The employer supplies it at no cost.
- Reading a label, a packing slip and an item code; counting without error.
- Understanding safety instructions and shipping documents in the language used on the dock.
- Showing up on time: a dock runs as a crew, and an absence shows on the first truck.
- A forklift card only if the employer asks you to operate a lift truck, which is the forklift operator role and has its own page.
Training
No diploma is required. Job Bank states that some secondary school education may be asked for, and nothing beyond that. The real training happens at the employer's site in the first days: WHMIS, safe handling, dock procedures, and the equipment used there. To go further, the AEC Logistique du transport (a college attestation in transport logistics) is offered around Montreal, including at Cégep André-Laurendeau, Collège LaSalle and Collège Lionel-Groulx; the program code and the number of hours differ from one college to the next, so check with the one you are considering. In the regular college stream, the DEC Gestion des opérations et de la chaîne logistique (410.A1, a supply chain diploma) leads to the office side of the chain.
Career path
The dock is an entry point, not a dead end. A forklift card moves you to lift trucks. A scanner and a rate move you to order picking. Receiving, shipping and inventory come next, then lead hand and warehouse supervisor. Each of those roles has its own page on this site.
Frequently asked questions
What does a material handler do?
Loads, unloads and moves goods, by hand or with material handling equipment. In practice: building pallets, devanning containers, feeding a production line, counting, weighing, sorting and packing. The work happens at the dock, in the warehouse or on the plant floor, standing, with steady physical effort throughout the shift.
How much does a material handler earn?
The table above gives the Quebec median, the median for each Greater Montreal region, and the pay actually offered in job postings. Three things move the number: the shift, the sector, and the cards you hold. Evening, night and weekend work usually carries a premium on top.
Who is a material handler?
The person who keeps goods moving between the truck, the dock and the warehouse. Job Bank files the role under the occupation Material handlers and recognizes several titles: warehouse worker, truck loader, storage worker, bin filler, furniture mover. Same work, different names depending on the employer.
What is the average material handler salary in Quebec?
Job Bank publishes a median rather than an average, alongside a low and a high wage, and that is exactly what the table on this page shows. The median splits the occupation into two equal halves. An average, by contrast, gets pulled around by the extremes.
What is the difference between a material handler and a forklift operator?
A forklift operator drives a lift truck; a material handler moves goods by hand and with a pallet jack. Section 256.3 of Quebec's occupational health and safety regulation requires the operator to complete practical training under an instructor's supervision, on the type of truck and in the workplace where it will be used. Our forklift operator page covers that route.
What is the difference between a material handler and an order picker?
An order picker pulls items line by line with a scanner, against a measured rate. A material handler works by pallet and by truck: loading, unloading, palletizing, receiving. Job Bank files both under the same occupation, but the day looks nothing alike. Our order picker page covers picking.
What is the NOC code for a material handler?
NOC 2021 code 75101, Material handlers. It also covers warehouse workers, truck loaders and furniture movers. It excludes longshore workers, heavy equipment operators, storekeepers and warehouse supervisors, each of which has its own code. That code is what the official wage figures on this page are read from.
What is manutentionnaire in English?
Material handler. That is the official English title of occupation 75101 in the National Occupational Classification, where the French title is manutentionnaire. Montreal postings also use warehouse worker, warehouse associate, truck loader and shipper. The French version of this page carries the same content.
Do you need training or a diploma to be a material handler?
No. Job Bank states only that some secondary school education may be required. What is mandatory comes from the employer: the safe handling instruction set out in section 166 of Quebec's occupational health and safety regulation, and WHMIS training as soon as a hazardous product is present on site.
Can you get a material handler job with no experience?
Yes. It is one of the entry doors into warehousing, and the training happens on site within days. What an employer looks at first is physical capacity held across a full shift, punctuality, and real availability for the shift on offer. A forklift card, even an old one, changes the conversation.
Are there weekend material handler jobs in Montreal?
Yes. The share of Greater Montreal postings that mention weekends is shown higher on this page, taken from real Job Bank listings. Food distribution centres and parcel sorting hubs run seven days a week. Saturday and Sunday shifts usually carry a shift premium.
What must an employer control in manual material handling?
Quebec sets no legal maximum weight. Section 166 of the occupational health and safety regulation instead requires the employer to instruct the worker and to make mechanical aids available whenever manual handling compromises safety. The CNESST, Quebec's workplace health and safety board, names four risk factors for musculoskeletal injury: excessive, asymmetrical, sudden and cumulative effort.
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