Some great news to share on the living wage front.
Last night (April 26), New Westminster City Council voted unanimously to adopt the first municipal Living Wage policy in Canada. They have used the broad definition of the family living wage, developed two years ago by CCPA, First Call and the Victoria Community Council (meaning, modelled on a family of four with two young children), and applied the policy to both direct staff and contractors, which is fantastic, as it means this now sets a national standard/precedent for similar policies/bylaws. Hopefully, other cities will follow soon.
The motion was as follows:
That the City establish a Living Wage Policy that is tied to an hourly rate established each year by the Living Wage for Families Campaign; and,
That the Living Wage policy will apply to both full time and part time employees; and,
That there be no threshold in terms of dollar value of a contract or number of employees; and,
That the policy apply to persons that perform physical work on City premises and properties; and,
That staff bring back information to Council regarding implications of the Living Wage on contracted services.”
It’s a great win for the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families campaign (which includes First Call, CCPA, ACORN, HEU, and many others). Special recognition should go to the lead city councillor on this, Jaimie McEvoy, and to BC ACORN which initiated this effort in New West.
andrew phillips // Apr 27, 2010 at 3:24 pm
As a resident of New Westminster I would like to congratulate the progressive majority on Council for having the courage to adopt this policy.
vantown // Apr 28, 2010 at 8:00 am
Wow, nice to have some good news. Now what about other local municipalities — Vancouver, Burnaby — you’d think this is the kind of legacy a progressive council would want to leave.
Iglika Ivanova // Apr 28, 2010 at 9:30 am
Andrew, it looks like all Councillors deserve our congratulations, as the decision was passed unanimously.
WendiG // Apr 28, 2010 at 9:50 am
amazing to think this would come from New Westminster, instead of the People’s Republic of Burnaby, which would be the expected thing…
Once had possibly the most anti-union, miserable boss ever, who was involved in New West municipal politics -obviously, things here have changed, and for the better…
Nadine // Apr 28, 2010 at 9:52 am
I’m glad to live in such a conscientious and progressive city. They are also making a move to look into reconciliation for their actions toward the Chinese.
Max // Apr 28, 2010 at 4:54 pm
100% of council voted for this “progressive” policy. The result will be layoffs among the ranks of folks working for the Royal City.
When you artificially prop of the price of anything, the demand for that thing goes down. The “living wage” policy that some will get paid slightly more, with others earning zero, as they will be let go or not hired in the first place.
The only good that can come from this is that New West will cut staff or fire contractors they can no longer afford, or simply stop hiring altogether.
Advocates of policies like this delude themselves into believing society is better off with them, which it is not. Think about it. Every increase in wages decreases the number of workers demanded, meaning fewer people get to work. Employers get reduced productivity, making their businesses less efficient and more likely to close down. This hurts the economy, which lowers tax revenue, which means that City’s like New West have less money to pay the wages demanded.
I honestly do not understand why so many people can’t figure out this simple logic.
Dave // Apr 29, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Max.
I don’t understand how people like you cant see the benefit of a policy like this.
This is all about people being able to live.
There are employers out there that are able to slightly undercut competitors for a contract because they are paying poverty wages.
It has been proven that an employee that is paid a Living Wage will be happier with his job, be more productive, take less time off, and be healthier.
Employers in the U.S.A. and Europe have found that in less turn over so less costs for training for new employees.
Many companies that have quickly changed there stance on this issue from being apposed to it to praising it shortly after adopting it.
Tom Kertes // Jun 1, 2010 at 8:01 am
Living wage laws do more than ensure that governments don’t pay poverty wages to workers. That’s because the concept of a living wage communicates a powerful message about the value of each worker and the dignity of work. Nobody should work for a poverty wage, as wages should at the very least be enough support a family. Living wages communicate, without getting into too complex of economics, that any wage that results in poverty is simply unfair to workers and bad for the community. While living wages are not the end-all for sustaining a fair and just economy, they can be step in the right direction. This is especially true when living wage laws are built on to advance economic justice more generally, as was the case with Baltimore’s low-wage workers who are continuing to fight to extend the living wage to all workers, both publicly and privately employed.
More on lessons learned in Baltimore: http://liberationlearning.com/552