Labour groups demand $15 minimum pay

Labour groups demand $15 minimum pay

Labour groups (PHOTOS: VERNICA C. SILVA)

‘The current minimum wage ($11) is still 17% below poverty line’

By Veronica C. Silva

The Philippine Reporter

Labour groups in Ontario have launched a new campaign to raise minimum wage.

Last April 15, labour groups held a rally in front of the Ontario Ministry of Labour office at 400 University Avenue to press for $15 minimum wage and fair labour practices.

Some Filipino Canadians, led by members groups of Migrante Canada, joined labour groups like Unifor, Ontario Federation of Labour, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and Workers Action Centre, to name a few.
They claim that while it is a good start that the Ontario government has started to index minimum wage to inflation, the current rate of $11 is still not enough.

Sid Ryan, President of Ontario Federation of Labour

Last year, labour groups asked for $14 minimum wage after the minimum wage was stagnant at $10.50 since 2010. However, the province increased the minimum wage to only $11 effective June 2014.

Minimum wage is set to increase to $11.25 this October as part of Ontario’s commitment to adjust minimum wage to inflation.

Indexing the minimum wage to inflation was one of the recommendations last year by the Minimum Wage Advisory Panel, which was created to study how government could determine how to adjust minimum wage.

Despite this initiative, labour groups are not satisfied as there are still more workers living below poverty with the current pay rate.

“$15 per hour is just marginally above the poverty line,” said Sid Ryan, president, Ontario Federation of Labour. “There’s lots of people earning minimum wage or marginally above minimum wage. It’s time to move those people closer to a living wage.”

He added: “We’re not happy with the minimum wage that it is today. They pegged it to inflation; that’s great. But they pegged it at $10 dollars and something per hour. So, you’re going to get a marginal increase, and it might take 15 years before it gets to $15 dollars an hour at the rate of inflation and at the rate that they are slowly but incrementally changing it. By the time you get to $15 an hour, the standard of living would have gone up so much and the cost of living would have gone up so much.”

“The current minimum wage is still 17 per cent below poverty line,” said Pinky Paglingayen, secretary-general, iWWorkers/Migrante Canada. “Most people who work on minimum wage are not just students or workers on entry level but working poor with families, children. It is not healthy to live on this kind of wage.”

She also downplayed fears that minimum wage will force businesses to shut down allegedly because they can’t afford the wage hike. She said the working poor are the ones with hardly any choices to make as they will still buy goods and services even if businesses increase their prices to make up for the increases in wages.

Alistair Woods, Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario

But it is not just families who are struggling with minimum wage. The working groups were joined by student groups who are also burdened with student loans aside from low pay and precarious working conditions.

Alistair Woods, chair, Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario said students are struggling with high tuition fees, student loans, precarious work conditions and part-time work while in school and after school.

“My generation struggles to live on stable, financial footing, the government, politicians, media mock us as lazy, stupid (and) having unrealistic expectations,” Woods told the crowd of rallyists. “But you know what’s unrealistic? To expect an entire generation of young people to invest in themselves, to put themselves in mortgage-size debts in education and to put them out in part-time jobs without union protection and s*** wage!”

Pinoy immigrant youth can relate with working Canadian youth.

“We continue to fight for $15 and fairness. Our youth group Anakbayan Toronto has been actively engaged with the campaign to raise the wages in Ontario,” said Ysh Cabana, Anakbayan Toronto/Migrante Canada.

“Though young Filipinos have had very high participation rate in the labour market with low unemployment rate below the average population rate, the level of income remains one of lowest among any other groups or any other province. For one, the jobs that our fellow immigrant workers and youth employees have had few benefits, schedules are erratic and there are less coverage by minimum wage protections in the past 15 years.”

Kaylie Tiessen, Economist, CCPA

But a recent study by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is saying that even $15 is not enough.

The study titled “Making Ends Meet: Toronto’s 2015 Living Wage” suggested that living wage should be $18.52 per hour for each parent working full time with two children aged seven and three.

And this is just to make ends meet, said CCPA economist and report author Kaylie Tiessen in an interview.

This living wage will only cover basic rent, food, possibly going back to school for one parent for one class per semester. The pay will not cover debt repayment owning a home, and savings for the education of the kids and retirement of the parents.

The report noted that since Toronto’s living wage was estimated at $16.60 in 2008, costs of living – such as rent, child care and public transit — have risen from 13 to 36 per cent.

Tiessen added that ideally minimum wage would be a living wage, and that minimum wage should be tied to 60 per cent of the average industrial wage to bring the minimum wage closer to $15.

“The minimum wage is the statutory wage that no employer is allowed to pay less than. Every employee must be paid a minimum wage and no less than. There are a few exceptions. Instead of looking at the bare minimum, the living wage looks at what an employee actually needs to earn in order to live a decent quality of life,” said Tiessen.

The report also noted that some employers are taking initiatives to give their employees more than the minimum wage set by the province.

“Some employers are saying it’s worth it; we want to pay our employees living wage now. It’s part of being a good employer; it’s part of giving a good job,” Tiessen added.