XPost: can.politics, van.general   
   From: *Oct.15.2015*@tweek.eu   
      
   Greg Carr will be thankful for this small token . . . .   
   considering it comes from a right wing government which would never   
   think of foisting decent minimum wages on companies or employers.   
   _______________________________   
   News1130 Staff March 12, 2015   
      
      
   BC’s minimum wage going up to $10.45 an hour   
   Increase will happen every September, based on the cost of living   
      
      
   VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The minimum wage in this province is about to go   
   up; the government is increasing it by 20 cents.   
      
   This will come into effect on September 15th, when minimum wage workers   
   will begin earning $10.45 an hour. A wage increase will take place every   
   September, but by how much will be based on the cost of living.   
      
   Anyone who serves liquor and makes the current minimum wage of $9 an   
   hour will also see an increase of 20 cents.   
      
   Jobs Minister Shirley Bond says if the Consumer Prince Index (CPI) goes   
   down, minimum wage will stay the same.   
      
   “We have, currently, about 110,000 people in the province that earn the   
   minimum wage. About 50 per cent of those individuals live at home with   
   their parents. And of those, another 50 per cent are actually attending   
   school,” says Bond.   
      
   “Today in British Columbia, our average hourly wage for adults is   
   fourth-highest in the country. It’s actually just below $25 an hour. And   
   our average hourly youth rate is just below $15 an hour,” she adds.   
      
   The last time there was a wage increase in BC was in 2011.   
      
   BC Federation of Labour calls the move “pathetic”   
      
   “I think it’s a pathetic response to the hundreds of thousands of people   
   who work full time and live in poverty in this province,” says Irene   
   Lanzinger, president of the The BC Federation of Labour.   
      
   The Federation has been calling for a $15 per hour rate.   
      
   “Seattle’s done it. San Francisco’s done it. large parts of the   
   hospitality sector in Los Angeles… we are now eighth or ninth… in terms   
   of minimum wage in the country.”   
      
   Lanzinger says $15 an hour it would be good for small business owners.   
   “The fact is, if they pay people well, they’ll have to train less often   
   because they have less turnover with decent wages.”   
      
   In response to the province’s announcement of annual incremental   
   increases linked to inflation, Lanzinger says, “that will entrench   
   poverty. It will index poverty because they’re starting at a poverty   
   rage and raising it by CPI.”   
      
   “Currently, a minimum wage worker working full time is $6,000 below the   
   poverty line. Tying it to CPI will never lift those people out of   
   poverty,” she adds.   
      
   “What [would they] do with that extra $4.75? They spend it in their   
   community. They buy better groceries for their children. They enroll   
   their kids in a sport that they couldn’t afford before.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)