WATCH: B.C.’s minimum wage will go up by 20 cents in September, and will be tied to the consumer price index from now on. Keith Baldrey reports on how the government came up with the figure.
“It’s pathetic news.”
That was the B.C. Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger’s reaction to the news that B.C.’s minimum wage will go up to $10.45 an hour this September, up twenty cents from the current $10.25.
“This is a government that gave a break to the richest two per cent of British Columbians…and they are doing nothing to address the poorest people in the province,” she said.
“Your salary should be enough to pay rent, buy nutritious food and have enough left over to enroll your kids in sports.”
WATCH: Irene Lazinger and Keith Baldrey discuss the minimum wage hike on Unfiltered
The government also announced that the minimum wage will fall in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in future years. It means increases will happen each year if the economy grows, likely at a rate between 15 and 25 cents.
Lazinger said it simply meant the minimum wage would consistently lag behind the poverty line in B.C. She says the gap currently works out to six thousand dollars a year for someone working full-time at the minimum wage.
“What they’ve done is indexed poverty,” she said.
“We’ve always called for a process where you get government, labour and business every year together in a room and plan what the minimum wage should be. We agree it should increase every year, but the cost of living is not always the best indicator of that.”
READ MORE: Lazinger says they’ll continue to fight to increase minimum wage to $15
Legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey agreed that the move would be disappointing to the 110,000 British Columbians currently earning minimum wage.
“It adds certainly, but it adds the certainty that you’re not going to get a big increase,” he said.
“You’re keeping pace with the cost of living, but proponents of a higher minimum wage say that the base right now is not big enough…to adequately meet the cost of living right now. A lot of people would argue that the base should have substantially increased more than the amount it did today.”
Business coalitions, on the other hand, commended the government for providing them with predictability for years ahead.
“It’s a balanced move,” said Richard Truscott, the vice-president of Canadian Federation of Independent Business. He said he lobbied the government to “reframe the debate” about dealing with poverty.
“The minimum wage overall is not a great poverty reduction tool,” he said, adding that just seven per cent of those on minimum wage identify as the head of a household.
“There are things we can and should be doing to help those people find better paying jobs. That’s the real way that you lift people out of poverty.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
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