CUPE calls for big boost to minimum wage
Posted Apr 12, 2011 04:52:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The union representing public employees is recommending the Nova Scotia government boost minimum wage to $11 an hour.
It’s just one of the recommendations the Canadian Union for Public Employees has made in a brief to Labour Minister Marilyn More following the government’s request for submissions on the issue.
A release from CUPE describes a decent minimum wage as a boon to the local economy and ensures people are paid decently for the work they perform.
“When people with low incomes get a raise, they spend it on goods and services provided by local businesses; they are not flying off to Mexico. Even the CFIB should see the sense in this,” states CUPE president Danny Cavanagh.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) has held the opinion that minimum wage increases are too heavy an economic burden small business owners and lead to layoffs.
Minimum wage is currently $9.65 an hour in Nova Scotia.
Luc Erjavec with the Canadian Restaurant & Food Services Association says minimum wage in Nova Scotia has increased 27 per cent in two-plus years, while inflation has increased four per cent.
“So it’s ridiculous to assume businesses can continue to absorb these rates of increases,” Erjavec told News 95.7 following a live interview with Maritime Morning.
“It just shows how out of touch the public sector unions are with the realities of small business in Nova Scotia,” he said. “Something like this would be devastating to small businesses.”
Callers to Maritime Morning agree the suggested boost is too high.
“It’s too high for the skill set that’s filling those jobs. I can’t afford that. I won’t hire anybody at that rate. I’d be laying people off,” said Rich.
“I’d like to pay my staff $15 if I could, but I can’t, and if I did, I’d be out of business,” Mike told the talkshow.
CUPE also recommends eliminating the “inexperienced” workers rate; linking the minimum wage to increases in the Consumer Price Index for Nova Scotia rather than Canada; and legislating an annual minimum wage hike linked to the Nova Scotia CPI.
The union’s brief also encourages the province to develop a publicly-funded and delivered early learning and child care system.
Campaign 2000 and its partners previously recommended a minimum wage rate of $11 per hour by 2011 with indexation of this wage to protect it from the losses that occur due to increases in the cost of living.
The provincial minimum wage committee has recommended the wage increase to $10 an hour by October 2012.
