There has been a lot of exciting talk lately about raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour (and also a lot of frustrating talk about how raising wages to above-poverty level rates will be bad for business). The campaign is gaining momentum in Ontario, kicking off tonight at the Parkdale library (1303 Queen W., 7 p.m.).
Ontario MPP Cheri DiNovo and MP Peggy Nash will join front-line workers whose jobs are underpaid and undervalued to speak about the urgency of raising minimum wage to $10 an hour.
Courtesy of the Labour Council, here are some reasons why the minimum wage needs a raise:
- The majority of low-wage jobs are in big business (fast food chains, retails giants and the ultra-exploitative and growing temp agency biz
- Ontario MPPs just gave themselves a massive raise — the increase is more than a full year’s income of a minimum wage worker!
- An CEO can earn as much by an afternoon on the job as a full-time minimum wage worker will in an entire year ($16,640)!
This is enraging! It’s also a critical issue for us, as youth, women, immigrants and people of colour are disproportionately represented in low-wage, precarious forms of employment. Raising the minimum wage is one step in lifting workers out of poverty (another big one is enforcing employment standards, but that’s another story).
Check out the Ontario Needs a Raise Campaign to find out what you can do.
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three comments
Blagh, the minister of finance says it's a no go. Sigh. I remember when I was in university and how I got a wage raise to $11, and how thrilled I was. I had enough money for all sorts of things, which made me think that that would be enough for anyone to live on. I thankfully had a sensible friend who pointed out that I had cheap rent (for Toronto), no real expenses, and (the big one) no family. A friend of mine used to say, "you need to be poor to have compassion" and while that may be a bit too harsh, you definitely need to be poor, it seems, to know that $8.30/hr is not enough.
Did you read Barbara Ehrenreich's funny column on how raising the minimum wage will not, in fact, send the universe into turmoil?
http://ehrenreich.blogs.com/barbaras_...
Posted by Thea
January 26, 2007, 10:40 AM
The issue of minimum wage is more complex than the emotional statistics you mention, in that it involves lots of economic calculations. The essence of the economic problem is that, if you raise minimum wage to $10, the most vulnerable and uneducated workers will be fired from their jobs. That is because the services they currently provide for $8 are sufficient, but for $10 the employer will expect additional benefits from the worker. The lowest-class workers will be unable to provide the extra value for $2/hr and will be fired.
Not to mention that rising Canadian labour costs encourage employers to outsource (production of goods, at least) to third-world countries.
Posted by Jacob
January 27, 2007, 11:49 PM
Jacob, I think it depends where you get your information from. A few things to clarify:
The excuse that raising the minimum wage will lead to unemployment is often just that, an excuse trotted out by big business to dissuade governments from raising the minimum floor of standards to improve workers' conditions.
Empirical evidence provided in an excellent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (available here:http://www.labourcouncil.ca/raising_floor.pdf) shows that raising the minimum wage has a marginal effect on employment. The authors state that "changes in the minimum wage cannot reasonably be seen as being responsible for significant employment downturns, which must be attributed to the provincial economy as a whole."
Second, I think you are mistaken to assume that low-wage workers are uneducated. Vulnerable, yes, as it is women, immigrants, youth and people of colour who are most likely found in these jobs, but you cannot assume they are uneducated.
Third, there are certain jobs that can absolutely not be outsourced to low-wage countries -- service sector jobs and those contracted out through temp agencies -- and the workers in these jobs are the ones most in need of a raised minimum wage. Manufacturing jobs are often higher paid, as they are unionized, and thus at risk of being outsourced.
Posted by Nicole
January 28, 2007, 1:41 AM
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