UPDATED March 16, 2009
PEI Federation of Labour Reacts to the Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce’s Comments on Minimum Wage Increase
“The
Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce is right in one thing in their
reaction to the Provincial government’s recent announcement that PEI’s
minimum wage will increase. Now is not the time to increase PEI’s
minimum wage to $8.40/hr, the reality is, 5 years ago in 2004 was the
time to increase our minimum wage to $8.40/hr back when it would have
brought the approximately 2000 minimum wage workers on the Island to
3cents/hr above the Low Income Cut-off (LICO) for a Community the size
of Charlottetown” States Blair Penny, Vice President of the PEI
Federation of Labour
According to the latest (LICO) (the most
commonly used “poverty” indicator), full-time workers on PEI
needed to earn at least $18,544 or $8.91/hr to be above the poverty
line in 2007 and that is now two years ago.
So while the
PEI Federation of Labour welcomes any increase to the Island’s minimum
wage, we are disappointed that the Ghiz government hasn’t followed the
leads of the Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and
Nunavut governments and taken real steps to move our minimum wage to a
level where a full-time worker can at least meet their basic needs.
We
are also disappointed that the Ghiz government continues to set the
Island’s minimum wage on such a short term basis rather than having
long-term plans to move our minimum wage to a point where the minimum
wage for a particular year at the very least syncs with the Low Income
Cut off for a city the size of Charlottetown for that same year.
“Every
full-time worker on PEI deserves to earn a wage that allows them to
meet their basic needs and it is time that the Ghiz government comes up
with a long-term poverty-reduction strategy to ensure this. Moving our
minimum wage to a level at least at par with the poverty line needs to
be a cornerstone of this strategy” continues Mr.
Penny
“By the final
increase in October, at $8.40/hr, PEI will still only rank
10th out of 13 Canadian jurisdictions and that is only if
British Columbia and/or The Northwest Territories don’t finally decide
to increase their minimum wages, this is hardly an earth shattering
increase” further states Mr. Penny
According to KPMG's 2008
Competitive Alternatives study which compares business costs in 136
cities in 10 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific,
Charlottetown ranks as having one of the most consistently affordable
business costs of the 136 cities studied.
The PEI
Federation of Labour feels that the workers of PEI have borne a way too
much of the brunt of these low costs and the Ghiz government needs to
bring a better balance between the needs of the Island Business
Community and the needs of workers on PEI.
“In
conclusion, we envision a time where Island workers have a minimum
wage, employment standards, and labour legislation that allows them a
decent living, a proper work/life balance, and a safe and fair work
environment. We hope that the Ghiz government will do more to ensure
that this vision becomes a reality”. Concludes Mr. Penny
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