B.C.’s minimum wage earners are getting a pay hike this June and one ever year after until they’re making $15.20 an hour in 2021.
Premier John Horgan and Labour Minister Harry Bains made the announcement from a North Vancouver coffee shop on Thursday that their government, with the support of the B.C. Green Party, would be upping the wages of the lowest earners to $12.65 per hour on June 1with annual increases for the next four years. The move follows the recommendation of the Fair Wage Commission, struck by the NDP and Greens after they took office last year. It was also a campaign pledge by NDP.
Horgan chose JJ Bean because the Vancouver-based company voluntarily raised their starting wage to $14 per hour to match the newest minimum wage brought in in Ontario.
“It’s long overdue that British Columbia workers be on the same pay scale as the workers in other provinces like Ontario, Alberta and Quebec,” Horgan said, noting the 400,000 workers in B.C. are earning less than $15 per hour. “They shouldn’t have to rely on food banks. They shouldn’t have to rely on two and three jobs. They should be able to find a place where they can make an honest living, feed their families and realize their full potential.”
Patrick Stafford-Smith, chief executive officer of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, said the business community was expecting the minimum wage hikes but he hopes that it’s not a case of “keeping up with the Joneses.”
“Overall, we are in support of predictable wage increases but we do feel it should be part of a bigger strategy and measuring the outcomes is really key to that as well,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like a strategy just to be comparing ourselves to other provinces, but what is the overall purpose and how does that fit in with issues like poverty reductions?”
Addressing the issue of poverty, he said, will involve more than wages, and many of those earning the minimum wage on the North Shore are not folks feeding their families but rather are part-time employees living at home with well-to-do families.
And, Stafford-Smith said, he expects some businesses to take the changes harder than others.
“There are many small businesses that this will impact in terms of their labour costs and if they have difficulty passing on those costs to customers, then it could be a real impact to them – many of those who do not earn a lot of money themselves,” he said. “We’d love to hear from businesses out there who this is going to impact and we’d like to make sure the government hears from them so they can make any adjustments as we move forward in the next few years.”
